The Lion cub, the Witchling and his Wardrobe
by Tarabotti
Summary: Blaine Pevensie finds himself in a snow-covered world controlled by the evil White Witch. In his struggles to save Narnia doesn't help the fact, that White Witch's son, Kurt, is just too beautiful, charming and clearly interested in Blaine... Klainefication of Narnia!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Glee or Narnia. I do own a wardrobe so I still hope sometimes...**

**Warnings: violence, coarse language (not much) and sexual themes later (much)**

**This story started with a lovely GKM prompt asking for Klaine in Narnia AU, where Blaine is a Pevensie getting into Narnia and Kurt is White Witch's son. With lots of UST between them 3 There will be references from both universes, but main couple is Klaine, hence not in a crossover section. Treat it as a "klainefication" of Narnia haha. There are already 9 chapters on GKM so I will be adding chapters quite frequently at the beginning, later it will be 1-2 chapters per week.**

**English is my second language, so my grammar and phrasing will be accidental sometimes – hope you'll still enjoy the story and if there is anyone that would like to become my beta, I would love that person FOREVER :)**

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** Chapter 1**

They were surrounded by white forest. So quiet. So serene. _So cold_.

Blaine tried desperately to shove his freezing hands deeper into the pockets of his slacks. His uniform was enough for warm classrooms of Dalton Academy for Gentlemen, but not enough for the wintery landscape of this crazy place he managed to get into. He almost regretted sneaking into his headmaster's office.

"Are we where I think we are?" gasped Sebastian behind him spotting the lamp-post in the middle of a small clearing. Blaine Pevensie never liked his cousin much. They were rivals at school and rivals in teenage crushes, and usually it was Sebastian winning in both cases. The confident taller boy was now looking around with an amused smirk.

"So... old crazy aunt Lucy was right after all... To think how many years she spent in asylum because of that..."

Blaine sadly never met this 'Lucy'. Their only connection was their surname and even that changed when the woman got married twenty years ago. But he heard stories from the time of war – something about a family tragedy, missing kids...

"My dick is going to freeze any second now" complained the taller boy "I'll go back for a moment to get some coats from the closet."

"Isn't that stealing?"

"Nah. Technically they will be still in the wardrobe. Treat it as trying on clothes in the fitting room... for a really long time." Sebastian quickly disappeared between the trees to not hear any more arguments from Blaine. The shorter Pevensie welcomed the temporary solitude and moved closer to the lamp-post. It looked very old and the design was definitely from before the WWII. He went backwards to look up at the upper part of it when he heard a rustling.

"Took you long en..." Blaine stopped closing his mouth. Then he opened it again just to close it when he couldn't make any sound. In front of him stood a tall white horse impatiently kneading the ground with its hooves. But the reason Blaine forgot how to use his brain wasn't the animal but its rider - a pale beauty covered in layers of pallid-coloured fur-lined clothes. Even his chestnut hair seemed covered with frost. _Male or female?_ The only bright colour on this eerie creature were his saturated sea-bluish eyes, which were now staring at Blaine curiously. _Definitely male_ thought Blaine feeling butterflies dancing a can-can inside his stomach.

"Who are you?"

_Of course, even his voice had to be out of this world_ - thought Blaine. _Actually, out of my world which would make it of this... argh!_ His confusion must have been clearly visible on his face, because the rider frowned and repeated the question. And now he probably thought he was dealing with an idiot.

"I'm Blaine..."

"Are you perhaps... a son of Adam?" stranger continued questioning.

Blaine frowned. Did he remind him of someone named that?

"No. I'm a son of Rob..." He coughed before managing to finish that sentence. "Sorry, It's cold in here."

"Cold?" The pale boy narrowed his eyes "I suppose it might be for you. I don't have a spare coat, but..." Long fingers tugged at a light blue scarf around rider's neck pulling it off. _Long, slender neck_.

"Don't _you_ need it?"

"Everyone knows I don't" Mysterious boy smiled for the first time. Blaine came closer and reached for the scarf. By accident - _yeah, right-_ he brushed the fingers of the rider. His skin was icy and smooth. But the scarf was of amazing quality and promised warmth.

"I need to go" Blaine heard the silky voice. The raider bucked his hips getting his horse to move and left the speechless boy alone.

Blaine was so deep in thoughts he didn't notice Sebastian's arrival until a heavy coat was thrown over his shoulder. Shorter boy turned around quickly.

"Good. I was worried for a moment that you froze here!"

Blaine eyed suspiciously the coat.

"It looks very feminine"

Sebastian smirked "I know. Now, let's move on. I want to see if there is anything remotely interesting here. Hey, what is that?" taller boy noticed the scarf.

"I found it on the ground by the lamp-post" for some reason Blaine didn't want to share the wonderful meeting he just had. Especially not with Sebastian.

* * *

After sending his horse away with one of the dwarfs, the pale stranger went quickly as possible through the Souvenir Garden towards the castle. He never liked the vast collection of stone figures there, even before he learned of their origin. Giants, wild animals, fauns... every known species had at least one stone representative decorating the inner garden of White Witch's residence. All of them were wearing horrified expressions – but everyone would, knowing they are about to be turned permanently into stones.

At the front of the castle's door the boy met a giant dire wolf.

"Kurt" the wolf bowed in respect "Your mother wanted me to remind you about your lessons tomorrow. And she will want to speak to you afterwards."

"Of course. Now go and do something useful." The wolf hesitated, but Kurt wasn't the one to repeat his orders. "Do you want me to throw you a stick to move you out of my way, Maugrim?" The wolf winced but listened and quietly disappeared into the shadows of the gardens.

When Kurt got into his emerald chamber, he noticed he had a guest. The gigantic bed was currently occupied by a small fox, who shot his head up as soon as hearing the door open.

"Rory! If I knew you were coming I would come back sooner!"

"It's okay. Good thing your mother or Mr Fluffy don't ever visit your room. I know I wouldn't be really welcomed. So, anything interesting happening in the outside world? Did you catch anyone committing any crimes against Her Majesty?" Rory moved a bit when Kurt leapt on the bed after throwing of his boots.

"No. Maybe I would if you told me where your rebellion is hiding..."

"I'm never telling you this."

"I figured." There was a moment of comfortable silence between them before Kurt sighed.

"I saw someone weird today. He looked like me a little."

"Was he a djinn then?"

"No. Darker skin."

"Warlock? Or witch?"

"I would know if he was one."

Rory thought for a moment.

"Did you asked if..."

"Yeah. He said he wasn't human. I'm thinking that maybe he was a dwarf. A good looking dwarf without the beard. With sleek hair."

Rory batted his eyelashes surprised "Good looking?"

But Kurt wasn't listening.

"You should stay here for the night. Maugrim and his mooks are just outside the castle and you would be caught easily ."

Kurt took out a flask filled with thick, green liquid. He opened it and tilted, allowing a generous drop to hit the floor.

"Preparing a new outfit for tomorrow?" Rory curiously looked at the floor, knowing Kurt's imagination was creating some amazing sets of clothes with his magic. However, this time the silvery shimmer started building a small metal construction covered with glass panels. When the red fire filled it, Rory recognized the shape to be similar to the hanging Lantern in the woods south from the castle.

"Why waste your one-per-day magic for that?"

Kurt gathered some soft fur pelts from the bed and throw them on the floor next to the lamp. Rory leapt from the bed and joined Kurt, who wrapped himself in furry blankets and rested his chin on hands looking at the fire.

"It's looked warm"

Rory's whiskers twitched nervously " Kurt! Did you by any chance... felt cold?"

"No. Perhaps. Sort of."

Maybe some other time the fox would pursue this conversation further – witches don't feel any temperature normally - but now he and the witchling were both too sleepy and comfortable by the bright lamp. Rory snuggled into Kurt's arms allowing the dreams to enter his mind.

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** Next chapter: Blaine and Sebastian meet some beavers, while the White Witch shows off her parenting skills.**

**Please review/give feedback if you liked it! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Coming back with another chapter!**

**You might want to have a Narnia map at hand from now on to consult the geography. I'm using the official movie one, easily found on google.**

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**Chapter 2**

When the Pevensie cousins arrived earlier in Narnia it must have been already late afternoon because the sky soon got dark. Sebastian was choosing their route confidently striding through the woods and Blaine followed him meekly, not being able to think about anything but his earlier encounter. He had to constantly rub his fingers over the soft fabric of the scarf as a proof it wasn't a hallucination.

Sebastian's voice broke into his reverie.

"The forest is thinning out. I hope we are actually going to get somewhere, because breaking into headmaster's office was too difficult to get back after seeing only damn _trees._"

"You should've asked Lucy for a map or at least some directions then" quipped Blaine. He really hoped they wouldn't have to return to the wardrobe. He hasn't gotten _his_ name yet! Blaine kicked some small rock. His shoes started to soak through because of that stupid sn...

There was this loud noise, violent pull and Blaine's world turned upside down . For a moment the boy was confused by what happened. When his head stopped spinning he noticed that he was tangled in a sturdy net hanging from a tree. He heard a loud laughter below him. So much for thinking his cousin cared for his safety even a little.

"Thanks, Seb! Your concern warms my heart! Now, could you help me somehow?"

"Oh, I don't know... I was thinking to explore around first, go back home for dinner and then maybe came baaaaaAAAAAA!"

Blaine grinned widely at the sight of Sebastian joining him midair in a similar net trap. The taller boy looked even less comfortable in that position than himself. But before Blaine worked up some joke to wound his cousin's pride even further they both heard theatrical whispers below them at the base of a tree trunk.

"Should we call someone?"

"Are we going to be eaten?"

"I can see their skin! Were they _shaved_?! Poor creatures!"

"Ehm" interrupted them Sebastian

"!"

"We are not going to eat you" said Blaine. "And we would appreciate if you didn't eat _us._"

There was a hesitant shuffle below and the boys saw two flabby shadows crawling from behind the trees onto the path. The mysterious creatures turned out to be two beavers, now curiously staring at their prisoners. They broke into heated discussion.

"Oh my... do they look like...do you think they are.."

"I don't know honey... the drawings weren't that good to begin with..."

"Should we just ask them?"

"Ask us! Whatever will bring us closer to finishing this farce!"cried desperately Sebastian.

The bigger of two animals drew a sharp breath.

"Are you sons of Adam and Eva?"

_Again with that name._

"Yes, we are." Sebastian's response startled Blaine. "They asked us if we are humans. In a really vague, Bible way" explained quietly taller Pevensie.

_So this is what meant that other boy. _thought Blaine. _But wouldn't he recognize me?_ _He looked like human himself..._

The beavers whispered between themselves, arguing about something. The smaller sighed and pulled something white out of a small pouch it had on its shoulder.

"You understand we can't just believe you easily?" its shrilly, ear-piercing voice made Blaine almost sure it was a female beaver "So we need you to take a test. We'll show you something that belonged to humans we once hosted and they forgot to take that back... among other things." Small beaver held up the white fabric.

Blaine opened his eyes wide while Sebastian broke into hysterical laughter.

"Quieter, you idiots!" hissed big beaver. "You know it or not?"

"Oh God... I don't even want to know how you got a girl's bra." Sebastian was wiping the tears from his eyes.

The animals seemed satisfied with that and the smaller one whistled sharply. Soon both boys heard delicate pitter-patter on the branches above. The ropes of their traps were attacked by a colony of red squirrels. Every time one rope gave up the net would rapidly lower itself towards the ground.

"uh" cried both Pevensie when their butts met the ground. With beaver's help they untangled themselves from the nets. The boys stretched their limbs while the bigger beaver talked quietly with one of the squirrels.

"... and get Puck and others to meet us there tomorrow early morning. I can't believe this is happening in my time!" finished all but jumping from excitement. The squirrel swiftly disappeared between the trees.

The beaver turned towards the dazed boys, who decided not to dwell too much on the fact, that these animals _talked_. For the sake of their sanity.

"I apologize for late introductions but we didn't want to take our chances in case you would turn out to be _Her_ spies. I am Finn and this is my wife Rachel."

And they had human-like names.

"I'm Sebastian Pevensie and this is my cousin Blaine. Also Pevensie." Said taller boy. The beavers stared at them, excited.

"That must be a sign! Us beavers bring hope to Narnia again!" Beavers' eyes shone with a sudden joy. "But we shouldn't talk here with all the trees around. Let's go into hiding. And talk about your destinies, Your Majesties."

* * *

This is not how Sebastian and Blaine would imagine secret headquarters of the Free Narnian Resistance. The hidden entry behind the rocks, secret password by the door – "in memory of The Four" – promised a mysterious dungeon. What the boys actually saw was a homely interior with a long corridor leading to a numerous, currently closed, rooms.

Beavers led their guests to the room that looked like old-fashioned countryside kitchen. It wasn't messy but looked very lived in.

"It's very warm here and we can talk while dining." Said Rachel ushering them to sit down and walking towards the stove. It seemed there was already some kind of stew in the pot, which promised a warm meal soon.

They sat at the large wooden table while the beavers started on the dinner.

"So, we first have to establish what you already know."

Sebastian and Blaine looked at each other. Rachel tried to be very quiet preparing some side salad and slicing bread. Taller boy leaned back on his chair crossing the arms. Blaine took it as allowing him to speak.

"Sebastian's aunts have been here. Aunt Lucy kept saying stuff about a land inside a wardrobe, cursed into a never ending winter. And it's ruled by an Evil Queen. Lucy, together with her siblings, were to save it and become queens and kings here" Finn nodded confirming the story."That was when we started research to find this wardrobe to check if the story was true or not. It wasn't easy but it seems it was worth the trouble." Blaine's eyes sparkled when he realized that it is finally happening. He was in an adventure that till now he could only read about in his fantasy books.

Rachel wobbled towards the table with a big, warm pot and Blaine jumped from the table to help her.

"It seems you know the basics of our world. Sadly nothing changed during that last three centuries..."sighed Finn.

Blaine almost dropped the heavy pot.

"Centuries?! But it was only forty years ago that our relatives went here!"

"I'm not surprised by that. Different worlds have different time. It looks like our goes faster than yours" Finn put plates and utensils on the table and slipped the coaster under the warm pot. The beavers ushered the boys to eat. "And during all that time we haven't seen a single human here!"

"No one? What about the queen?"

"She might look like human but there is no red blood in her veins. She is a djinn, perhaps with some giant in her – an immortal demon." That remark rattled Blaine's already confused mind. _Then who was the stranger met in the Forest? _He knew subconsciously that he wouldn't like the answer.

"The other creature who remembers those times is her general Maugrim. A dire wolf. No one is sure how he survived so long. There are rumours that it's because" Finn swallowed loudly "because he ate a human heart. Maugrim attacked queen Susan at Fords of Berona. King Peter came to save her, but he was only a child that didn't know how to use a sword... "

Only Rachel's light sob was audible in a heavy silence.

"When Narnian fighters came it was too late for Peter. They only managed to save Susan. With Peter dead and Edmund betraying Narnia they knew there was no hope. The prophecy turned false. Queen Lucy insisted they stay, but everyone thought girls' safety was more important and they escorted them back to the wardrobe."

"On our side everyone suspected the boys went swimming and drowned." That was the part of the story that Blaine knew. "Susan told everyone she was at home during that time. Lucy was telling some insane stories about a different world. The doctors said she was traumatized by these horrible events."

"So Peter was killed. What happened to Edmund – the younger brother?"asked Sebastian.

"According to our spies the queen turned him into stone shortly after. He probably decorates Witch's castle garden. Like many other poor victims."

"Stone!?" gasped Blaine. He could barely keep with all the revelations and now he had to add some evil magic to them. Sebastian seemed a lot more collected.

"If the whole 'save the world' plan didn't work then why are you still on the lookout for humans?"

"We weren't. At least until thirty years ago. That's because there is a new prophecy" whispered Finn as if there might be someone eavesdropping them. "The first one foretold the arrival of the four human children to sit on the thrones of Cair Paravel..."

"It's a beautiful castle standing on east shores of Narnia" explained Rachel. Finn glared at her interruption.

"... And that the evil would be conquered by them."

"But it didn't work, obviously. And now you got another false prophecy?" Sebastian put away the now empty plate and started munching on a bread.

"You better remember to not question our oracle when standing face to face with her" said Rachel. "More stew, dear?" Blaine shook his head, feeling like a pre-schooler under motherly gaze of the female beaver.

"I don't want to miss anything so I'm just going to quote her" Finn theatrically cleared his throat. "_Soon two human slowpokes will save Narnia together, call Aslan from his vacation over – the – sea, kill the White Bitch and become two kings to bring spring and happiness to Narnia. Now fetch me pickled cucumbers, I have a hangover._"

Blaine was happy he wasn't chewing anything at the moment. Sebastian had less luck and now he was hitting himself in the chest, coughing.

"Are you sure about that last part belonging to the prophecy?"asked shorter boy.

"Not really. But it was said in _oracle voice _so I didn't want to take any chances."

"Shouldn't the whole thing be... I don't know... _rhyming_ or something?!" asked Sebastian when he was able to breathe normally again.

"The oracle tried to skewer the last person that asked her that question." said Finn with a serious expression.

The boys left it at that. Blaine ran in memory the prophecy again.

"Who is this 'Aslan'?" he asked. As soon as he heard himself saying that word, he felt that strange warm sensation in his whole body. As if he suddenly grew older than his seventeen-year-old self, more courageous... And then there was that bit about kings. He knew he should be more sceptic about the whole foretelling thing but it just felt so _right_. And wonderful.

"Aslan" repeated Finn, tasting the word as if he felt the same as Blaine "He is... our Lord. Saviour. He is said to always come when Narnia was in need."

"Is he like a king then?"

"Oh no!" hurried to answer Finn "That title is reserved only for human lords. Aslan is a _lion _"

Blaine should've known that someone ruling over animals would be an animal himself.

"Doesn't that make him _dangerous_?" he asked warily.

"Of course it does. It is expected for an overlord to be dangerous. But you don't have anything to fear. As long as you are on our side".

"So where was he all that time when Narnia was in need?" smirked Sebastian.

Beavers looked nervous.

"Queen Susan was supposed to call for him using her horn" started Rachel. "But after the _accident_ they forgot about the whole deal."

"Couldn't you call him yourselves?"

"Oh, we tried. But as soon as one of Narnians tried to play on the horn it broke into few pieces without any sound coming out of it. We have a theory that only a human, possibly future king can play on it."

"That's easy then!" Sebastian sat straighter "We are here so let's put it back together. I'm not exactly musical type but Blaine here sings all the time so he definitely has lungs for blowing any horny instrument" he finished with mischievous smile.

"Seb!" gasped Blaine, his cheeks flushed.

Beavers also seemed embarrassed, but about something else.

"We... we'll talk about this in the morning with other Narnians. I'm sure Puck – our current leader will be more qualified to explain things. And it would be good if you boys would catch a few hours of sleep before that."

Pevensie cousins easily agreed to this. They had enough revelations for one day. Rachel led them to one of further rooms which turned to be a bedroom with bunks carved in walls. She showed them also a bathroom door down the corridor. Both boys quickly took off their outer clothes deciding to worry tomorrow about possibility of getting a change of clothes.

Despite being in such a new and bizarre environment, Blaine fell asleep easily. He dreamt about bloodthirsty lions and bright blue-green eyes. He wasn't sure which of the two visions was more terrifying.

* * *

It looked like the next day was not going to be Kurt's best day. First, when he woke up Rory was gone and the Lantern was coughing up last faint red sparks of light. Then he noticed he overslept and was late for his training. And Kurt has _never_ been late for anything. The last straw was smug Maugrim waiting for him after lessons to go to the inner garden, where queen Jadis was waiting for them.

"What mood is she in?" Kurt abhorred having any sort of conversation with Maugrim, but he needed to know what to expect.

"Happy. She caught a few dwarfs and fauns from the resistance when they tried to spy on the back gardens."

Kurt's heartbeat quickened. The handsome dwarf Blaine – or whatever he was – from yesterday was dawdling dangerously close to the Witch's castle. He looked like someone, who could easily get caught in the simplest trap. Kurt for a moment regretted leaving him alone earlier.

In the inner garden he saw the small group of creatures cuffed together, still bleeding from multiple wounds that looked like inflicted by Maugrim or one of his goons. The Witchling sighed in relief - Blaine wasn't among them.

The witch – Jadis – noticed Kurt. She looked particularly stunning today. Her long cream dress sweeping the ground and spiky crown emphasized her impressive height.

"Good you are finally here. I almost finished them myself. Maugrim already interrogated these rebels, so you, like every week will do your duty as my son". Without adding anything more she extended her hand with wand towards Kurt.

The Witchling already knew what he had to do. And he would do it calmly and confidently. He knew better now. When his fingers were barely an inch from the wand, Kurt felt it calling to him with the promise of great power. He wondered briefly if this is how his mother would feel the whole time and is that why she rarely lost hold of this long smoky-green staff. His fingers clenched the rod and he turned towards the terrified group of prisoners.

Jadis was observing Kurt with an unreadable expression as the boy trusted the wand forward, sharply halting the tip at the throat of the faun in the middle. The creature didn't even have enough time to flinch away from the attack before he and the whole group turned into cold stone statues. The queen leaned down to investigate the throat of the faun touched directly by the wand. The surface was smooth.

"Good. Just the slight touch. I see you are learning – you used to miscalculate before and draw blood from them before the spell worked."

Kurt shivered remembering this.

"I think it's time for you to have some more real experience, don't you think?" It wasn't really a question. " Tonight, when Maurim and his pack will go for a run, you will go with them."

"Will I get to use your wand?" asked Kurt carefully. _Was that why she kept making him use it on captured prisoners?_

"No, son. I wouldn't trust you even with my sleigh. But you will get something equally effective." Jadis curled her lips, but the smile haven't quite reached her eyes.

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**Next chapter: Blaine and Kurt meet again and try to kill each other. Kind of. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you all so, so much for reading this, for your reviews, favs and follows! I hope you'll enjoy reading this story.**

**I also feel I need to expand my disclaimer: I don't own Glee, Narnia ****_and Lord of the Rings :)_**

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**Chapter 3**

When Blaine woke up after a night full of horribly beautiful nightmares he was alone – Sebastian must have gone somewhere already. Blaine rubbed his nose bridge, still a bit sleepy. His bedroom didn't have any windows but from his watch it seemed that he slept for around nine hours. The boy looked around a bit confused. The chair with a pile of clothes on it and a little note caught his attention. He stood up, bumping his head on the upper edge of his bunk, and reached for the paper.

_Rachel brought some clothes for us. They look weird, but are clean and don't smell funny._

_Take your pick._

_I'm in the kitchen – there is some heated discussion going on._

_Join us when you wake up and stop drooling at that blue thing you found yesterday._

_Seb _

Blaine looked panicked at the scarf – fortunately Sebastian was joking and the fabric was intact. The boy picked some clothes that looked like they would fit him and peered out into the corridor. It was empty, but he could hear quite a few voices coming from the kitchen. They sounded agitated and one was clearly Sebastian's. Blaine flitted to the bathroom clutching some chosen clothes. He wasn't very happy by the sight in the mirror - his curls had gotten free from the gel during the night. Not having any hair gel with him, Blaine reluctantly opted to just wash it off completely. Fortunately the clothes felt nice on his skin and were comfortable despite looking old-fashioned. If not for the shoes, Blaine was sure he looked like hobbit in loose shirt and thick cherry vest. _A very tall hobbit_ convinced himself the boy drying his hair and glancing one last time at the mirror before leaving the bathroom to join everyone in the kitchen.

He didn't like how everyone just stopped talking when he arrived in the doorway. And he just stood there for a while speechless, because 'everyone' turned out to be a menagerie of many animals and fantastical creatures. There were squirrels from yesterday, doe lapping milk in the corner, two cats curled on a chair, few fauns crowding the wide bench by the wall and many others. The most intimidating among them was a centaur standing by the table. He was dark brown, very muscular with a short stripe of black mane starting at the top of his head and thinning out at the middle of his human back.

Sebastian, who was sitting close to the creature, smiled and waved pointing an empty chair next to him.

"Blaine! You finally woke up, sleeping princess!"he cried "I mean metaphorically. Technically you are a king" he added quickly seeing others' confused faces.

Blaine went quickly to sit at the table trying to ignore all the stares.

"You must be hungry" Rachel hurried to him with a porridge bowl and a cup filled with something warm. "You can eat while listening. This is Puck." she nodded her head towards the centaur "He is the leader of Free Narnian Resistance."

"We were discussing here how your arrival changes a lot of things here." Puck narrowed his eyes and Blaine could only hope they were _good_ changes "We should act quickly. As far as we know the White Witch doesn't know about you here yet, but that won't last long. Now, the part of the prophecy – I heard Finn told you about it yesterday – that would really make a difference for us would be calling Aslan to help. If he comes there is a great chance it will awaken some sleeping Narnian that could aid us. Since the only certain way for Aslan to hear us is to queen Susan's Horn we have to plan how you can get its parts together and..."

"Wait a moment!" cut in Sebastian "get _parts_ of Susan's Horn? You don't have it?"

Some animals looked embarrassed, but Puck just slowly turned his head to Sebastian.

"I'm sorry, _Your Majesty, _but there were some complications, that we couldn't just overcome without your help. We only have one part."

Puck put an ivory-coloured object on the table. It looked like half of a bull's horn. Boys could only made out the faint profile of an open lion mouth sculpted on it.

"So we can't call Aslan?"

"We can if we'll get other parts. And we know where they are. We should start with the other half of the main body. The second part was sealed in a special place, that can only be opened by a human blood – that's why we need you . That way Jadis couldn't get to it herself and she also wouldn't be able to force any of the Narnians to do it."

"Wouldn't she guard such a place though? Magical human DNA scanner kind of screams 'hidden treasure here!'"

Puck shook his head.

"It was build in secret by loyal moles. And even if she knew about the place she would only know it for its main purpose. And she would probably enjoy herself thinking about Narnians going there to cry, hopeless."

"Cry? Why?"

"Because it's King Peter's tomb."

All present Narnians looked at each other in sadness. Blaine felt very uncomfortable sitting there among strangers mourning his relative – very distant of course, but still – while he didn't really know how he was supposed to feel about it.

"There is also another problem." continued centaur "Maugrim can smell human blood too well. We can't have him close to the tomb by accident while one of you would be drawing his blood onto the seal. We need a diversion group. It will cause racket in a totally different place. I'm thinking somewhere the Great River, north from the Rock Bridge. There is a dwarf mine there that serves the queen loyally. We'll interrupt their work – that should stir Maugrim's attention. Of course I will be in a diversion group ." Puck smiled evilly thinking of a possible skirmish with the dire wolf general.

"Your Majesties will go with the smaller group to the tomb. Don't worry – you'll be safe. I will get few bears to follow you and constantly check the area."

Narnians nodded, excited. They finally had a chance to do something that would directly lead them to possible victory over the queen.

"Great. So we bleed ourselves and go into a dungeon full of germs." complained Blaine with a chuckle. Sebastian looked at him strangely.

"We can split the work. I'll give the blood, you play Indiana Jones underground." said taller boy with a smile. "We just arrived here and I'm already going to be wounded!" he added over-dramatically.

Blaine still needed some more information.

"What about the last part? Where is it?"

Puck for the first time this morning looked uncomfortable.

"A giant named Will has it. He is my second in command." He said reluctantly and moved towards the door before Blaine could ask more "I'll get the two groups to wait this evening. You both – be ready at sunset."

* * *

"Just choose a wolf to sit on and follow the rest of the pack" There was an unspoken 'do not choose me' in Maugrim's voice.

Kurt looked around the pack. He knew only half of them, tolerated even fewer. Folded chains attached to his belt jingled when nudged by some wolf's nose. Kurt looked down and recognised Ingolf – one of younger wolfs, but already having considerable size and strength that equalled his older colleagues.

"You can hop on me. There is no shame in carrying the Prince of Narnia" said Ingolf growling lightly at his peers. Kurt sighed with relief. He had nothing against Ingolf. He still remembered him as a ditzy but loyal and adventurous pup.

"Into formation" ordered Maugrim "follow close behind and inform me if you smell anything different!"

Kurt quickly climbed the blue-grey dire wolf. Not wanting to pull Ingolf's hair too much, he encircled his neck and gripped wolf's sides strongly with his tights. Maugrim stood for a long time with his head held up. Suddenly he scrunched his nose.

"That's interesting..." his eyes shone with malice "it looks like this damn centaur and his little pips are busy nearby tonight. I think we should check if they need our _help_ with anything" he turned towards the pack. "Quickly follow me. No howling."

Kurt felt sudden pull when Ingolf started to run with other wolfs. His chains jiggled happily as if they couldn't wait to be used in combat.

* * *

Sebastian and Blaine tried to move as quietly as possible but they were still no match for the animals soundlessly gliding through snowy forest. When they arrived at the entrance they were somewhat disappointed. There was a stone plate, partially covered with roots of a big oak overlooking it. There were no carvings on it – only a small depression with a hole.

"I guess this is where the blood goes?"

One of the cats nodded. Sebastian knelt down and pulled out a small dagger gotten earlier from Puck. The sharp blade sliced the skin in his palm like butter. Sebastian held his wounded palm over the depression allowing it to flow freely. Red droplets with faint sound fell onto cold stone. For a short moment nothing was happening. When Sebastian was considering spilling more blood, the plate flinched and with a screeching sound moved down few inches and disappeared to the side. The boy was looking down at the spiral staircase. The darkness didn't look welcoming.

"You sure you'll be fine alone?"asked a fidgety squirrel.

"I'll go if..."started Sebastian.

"No." whispered Blaine. "Who knows what germs are down there. Go get your hand looked at."

Finn handed him a small oil lamp and a tinderbox.

"Do you know how to use it?"he asked. Blaine nodded. "Wait till you get underground before you light it. We don't want any unnecessary attention". The boy nodded once again before descending into the staircase.

* * *

"How far are they?"whispered Kurt to Ingolf.

"The smell is strong now so they shouldn't be further than at north banks of the Great River."

The dire wolf stopped so suddenly that Kurt almost fell forward.

"What happened?"

The witchling noticed that the whole pack stopped. They stood in a silence, only the rustle of trees audible. _The rustle. With no trees around._

Maugrim smiled, teeth on full display.

"It seems like there is more than one party going on tonight. I knew this damn oak would become useful one day. Ulf." Maugrim jerked his head towards grey, vulpine-shaped wolf "Take Varg, Randolf, Loup and Ingolf and head south of Shuddering Wood."

"With the prince?"

"Yes. The fight with that bastard centaur is more interesting than babysitting a little witchling. Just take care he gets home safely – Jadis would be angry at me at least for a week if he would die on my watch."

* * *

Despite the lighted oil lamp Blaine had to navigate his way down with one hand on the wall. He could feel rough carvings under his fingertips. In few minutes the stairs ended and Blaine stood before a sturdy door. He pushed it, hoping they were not closed shut. Fortunately they gave up pretty easily, grating the floor slightly. Behind them was long corridor, its walls filled with reliefs depicting Narnians in a landscapes full of blooming flowers and trees. Blaine felt sudden sadness in his heart imagining how it would be to only know winter his whole life. The corridor ended with another door, also easy to open. And behind them...

The light from the lamp was reflected by at least a dozen of polished shields hanging of the wall of a spacious room. Between them hanged different kinds of jewels, trophies. But Blaine's attention got caught by a huge stone block in the middle of the room. The slab itself was pretty simple save for the inscription:

_Here lies a lost hope of Narnia_

_The bravest brother_

_King Peter Pevensie the Magnificent_

On top of the tomb sat a golden lion, his half-closed eyes made out of some precious stones that looked like topazes. Blaine had a great difficulty breaking his sight away from the majestic sculpture without doubt depicting Aslan. However, he knew it was best not to waste any more time. He guessed that the half of the horn had to be hung among the objects decorating the room, so he held the lamp close to the wall to not miss anything. At some point he was surprised by a marble plate hanging between the small decorative dagger and a slender, white bow. There was an elaborate craving of a lion head and words beneath:

_Not Forgotten_

_But_

_Forgiven_

_In memory of our brother_

_Edmund Pevensie_

Blaine knew it was only a plate, with no body behind it. Edmund at the moment must be in Witch's garden among her other victims. He wondered how it would be to see his... statue. The light caught a weak reflection of something white underneath the slab. Blaine smiled – it was definitely a second half of the blowing horn. The boy rubbed the other side of the carved lion head when he heard an unpleasant, metallic sound coming from the tomb. It was brief but enough to make Blaine nervous. He hastily put the horn in the pocket of his trousers and with wildly beating heart made his way towards the grave. There was nothing. Blaine was just about leave the dungeon, when he noticed that there _was_ something different. At the foot of the gold lion sculpture laid a sword. It looked like new, with no rust covering the blade. It was long, but looked light enough to be wielded in one hand only. The hilt was covered with dark red fabric, finished with a miniature golden lion head. There were some letters covering the blade. Blaine put the lamp on the tomb, grabbed the hilt and leaned forward a bit to check if he could read any of it.

Before he even managed to decipher the first word he felt a sudden pain at his ankle and then he was strongly pulled down, only by some miracle not hitting his head on the grave slab. It unpleasantly reminded him of getting caught by a trap the day before. _Is it going to be a regular thing now?_ Someone's foot stomped closed to his side. Blaine noticed he was still gripping the sword so he rolled on his back and swung it chaotically. Someone cried and jumped back. Unfortunately the light from the oil lamp sitting on a tomb wasn't strong enough, so he couldn't even make out the attacker's silhouette in the dark shadows. Blaine quickly stood up and was desperately swinging the sword in random directions. Once he felt it reaching something metal, but he wasn't sure if it was the stranger's weapon or one of tomb's decorations.

"You fight like a mad hare." chuckled the voice behind him. _Very familiar voice._

Blaine turned around and this time he trusted instead of swinging. That must have surprised his opponent, judging from the high-pitched gasp. But there was no pain in that voice – _definitely familiar – _meaning the blade didn't quite reach.

"This is ridiculous. You move too much." the stranger said, clearly irritated.

Blaine was about to say, that _it was his fault in the first place_, when he felt something moving around his body. And not in a nice, caressing way – not that Blaine was ever _caressed_ to know how it could feel – but in a creepy, immobilising way. In panic he moved his hand towards the restrain hoping it wasn't a snake. At first he felt relief when it turned out to be a heavy chain, but then he realized that it was a moving chain that paralyzed his movements. There were steps close to him and Blaine jumped back as much as possible with restrained legs and hitting his back at the tomb. His attacker came closer with a long dagger forward, twirling the weapon confidently.

"That's better. I do hate the mess when I..." the attacker hesitated when he saw Blaine's face, now lit by the lamp.

His own face was now illuminated as well.

"It's you!" they both cried surprised.

"Blaine? What are you doing here?" frowned the pale boy. Blaine noticed with awe that his skin seemed to shimmer delicately. The taller boy seemed to ignore definitions of personal space, because he crowded Blaine, looking now at his hair.

"They weren't curly yesterday." he noticed.

"I don't have a hair gel here with me." whispered dazed Blaine. Kurt frowned hearing an unknown phrase. His hand laced the dark curls with curiosity. Then the blue-green eyes came back to Blaine's face.

"Now that I look closely you don't look like a dwarf."

"I'm _not_ a dwarf!"

"Then what?" Blaine immediately regretted his outcry. Despite all his reason leaving him in favour of more _carnal _thoughts, he knew better than to admit to any stranger he was a human. He desperately searched his memory to find anything...

"I'm a hobbit" he said finally. _Sebastian would have a laugh at that_, Blaine thought gloomily.

"A hobbit?" Kurt of course didn't even know the word.

"Yeah. We usually live in houses built in burrows. My home village is... far away in a different country full of green hills" Blaine was on a roll, encouraged by curiosity twinkling in Kurt's eyes "And we are _taller_ and _nicer_ than dwarfs..."

"And definitely more attractive." murmured Kurt. Blaine stopped when he realized the pale boy's mauve lips were so, so close, breath tickling his jaw. The chains fell down a long time ago, but Blaine was still standing still. Chilly hand cradled his cheek.

"Your skin is very warm." smiled Kurt. "It's pleasant. I like pleasant."

Blaine wanted to say something, but couldn't, as his lips were captured by Kurt's. The strong, yet so gentle kiss felt so _right_, even the velvety hand on his cheek wasn't chilly anymore. The other hand tugged Blaine's curls, forcing his head to tilt a bit. Kurt used the new angle to deepen the kiss. Blaine meekly decided to just let the boy do whatever he wanted. He would love to moan pale beauty's name, but he didn't know it. His brain noted down getting to know it later as a priority.

Blaine would much prefer to just stay connected like that forever, but his lungs were screaming for air for a while already. The boy lightly pushed away from Kurt _When did he put his hands on these delicate shoulders? _He inhaled vigorously and felt blood rushing to his face, realizing fully now what they have just done.

Kurt's face wasn't even flushed but his eyes were sparkling. Blaine felt taller boy's hand sweeping down his neck and resting on his chest, right above his jittery heart. Kurt thought for a moment before speaking, voice not confident anymore.

"Could you tell me why I..."

The loud, numerous stomping interrupted their intimate moment. Into the tomb burst a crowd of forest creatures. The three fauns that led them had short bows, ready to shoot. They were all dirty and full of bruises and injuries – fortunately quite minor. It looked like they got into some fight.

"Blaine! Get away from _him_!" shouted one of the fauns, looking at Kurt with disgust.

Blaine was confused. He looked in Kurt's direction, but the pale boy was looking back at the arrived crowd, his lips thin, eyes narrow and hand still holding on to Blaine's chest. The faun's hands started shaking, he looked scared, but not for himself.

"Blaine, you really have to get away from this... _demon_. He is a son of the White Witch!"

* * *

**Next chapter: Kurt suddenly takes interest in a certain book belonging to the White Witch**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you all for reading and reviewing! Enjoy the next part:**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

That was one awful situation. Animals and creatures roaming everywhere, wolfs in pursuit. Rory knew he had to intervene the moment he felt Kurt's smell from the underground, together with few other scents – all spiced with fear and hostility. And then there was the foreign scent which he fully felt only once in his life before – a rich fragrance of a human, full of passion. The situation could go bad in many different ways, therefore Rory had to make sure to get Kurt out of this place before the witchling would be harmed. Or worse – before he would harm others.

Being a capable fox, Rory was proud to possess an incomparable ability to track down even the slightest scents. He smiled upon finding just what he needed. Rory sprinted in its direction to soon run into the massive bluish- grey dire wolf, who had Kurt's fresh citrus-pine fragrance all over him.

"You have some spunk to actually seek me." the massive animal growled, getting into offensive position.

Rory sighed, front leg pushing aside his collar fur to reveal a small emerald on a thread around his neck. Dire wolf looked surprised, but he loosen up his stance.

"It's rare to see a fox working for anybody, least for the queen. I'm Ingolf."

"I work for Kurt." Rory wasn't one for chit-chat "And I need you to get him out of trouble. Out of the tomb. No stupid fighting."

Ingolf hesitated. "We are not fond of stairs. That's why Kurt insisted to go there alone while we took care of the Narnians outside..." he stopped seeing little fox's eyes go narrow with anger. He was small, but Ingolf was sure he knew how to bite " No need for fuss. I'm going." dire wolf darted towards the tomb.

Rory didn't follow. Instead, he went straight to queen's castle.

* * *

"Blaine, you really have to get away from this... demon. He is a son of the White Witch!"

The White Witch. The evil queen that cursed the entire land. That conspired against every human coming here. And Blaine's first fiery kiss he had wasn't even with human.

While the boy stood there paralyzed, Kurt didn't waste any moment. He called for his enchanted chains again. They swiftly bounded Blaine again.

"Hey!" the shorter boy realized what was happening too late. He couldn't move his hands again – although this time his legs weren't tied. Kurt moved quickly behind him, one hand grasping Blaine's arm while the other pressed a sharp dagger to his throat.

"If you want him away from me, the more reason I keep him close." said Kurt calmly. "If you all could just move out of my way, _please_. Yes – everyone together, don't split up."

Terrified for Blaine's life, Narnians willingly moved to the other side of the tomb. Kurt pushed Blaine forward, turning him as they progressed so the Narnians would be always facing the curly-haired hostage.

"Great. Now I don't want to see or hear anyone while we go up."

Fauns nervously nodded. Kurt and his hostage walked through the corridor and started climbing the stairs backwards. Blaine almost tripped on his first step as he forgot about the staircase. Kurt held him steady and chuckled.

"Careful. I need you alive to be an effective shield."

"It would help if you lower that dagger." squeaked Blaine. "If I trip I might just stab myself by accident."

Kurt lowered the blade a little, tightening the grasp on Blaine's arm instead and bringing the boy closer to himself. He shifted them so they could see the stairs and not risk falling down.

"I really don't have anything against you personally, but you seemed to be awfully important for them." Kurt's light tone didn't sound very apologetic. "Oh, we are almost out." he said when noticing the shining moonlight above their heads. "I don't think I actually need using these, do I?" Chains started retracting from Blaine's body back to Kurt's belt. However, the pale boy was still holding on to his hostage while checking if there was anyone outside. The area above the ground was empty.

"It's better if you stay here. I can hear your _friends_ from downstairs and I would appreciate you stopping them at least for a bit so I can disappear." Kurt whispered directly to Blaine's ear. "Can I count on you?"

"You really think I'm going to help White Witch's son? You..." Kurt interrupted him with another kiss – briefer and more spontaneous. Blaine was surprised with his mouth still open and his tongue – apparently having a mind on his own – darted forward skimming Kurt's lips. That must've been something new for the taller boy because he jerked his head back, blue eyes wide. _And this time he was definitely blushing_, noticed Blaine with a small sense of pride, before bolting backwards completely repulsed , because he just kissed an enemy. _Again._

Kurt narrowed his eyes seeing that "I see. It's better if I go now. And you all just call me White Witch's son while I have my own name. It's Kurt." he finished almost spitting the last word. With amazing agility Kurt jumped out of the tomb, not looking back at Blaine.

However, this time the area around the tomb entrance wasn't empty. Kurt's bright eyes met wild stares of five huge sun bears - towering above him, seeming even more dangerous in the glow of the pale moon . The witchling stood there, unable to move – only his enchanted chain slit into his hand by itself, as if feeling the unavoidable fight that would be starting soon. Kurt was almost sure he heard someone shouting his name. Was it Blaine? He didn't want to look at the boy at the moment, also because it wouldn't be wise to lose eye contact with the feral animals around him.

The deadly silence was cut in by a roar full of pain. One of the bears stumbled forward being hit by something big, fast and in possession of a lethal collection of fangs. The new beast didn't bother with the bears too much. It jumped to the front of Kurt rising a cloud of snow with its sudden stop.

"My back. Now!" it growled.

The witchling with relief recognized Ingolf. As quickly as his shaking legs allowed it he crawled onto the dire wolf.

"Kurt!" now he was sure it was Blaine shouting.

"Take me away from here" quietly ordered the boy. And Ingolf run away before the Narnians could stop them.

* * *

"Are you okay?" asked Ingolf when Kurt slid down from him onto the translucent floor inside the castle.

The boy checked if he could stand without any support before answering " I think so. Nothing a long shower and rest can't cure. I hope Maugrim is not going to give you a hard time about going back earlier?"

"Of course not. I had orders to protect the Prince."

Kurt sighed. Ingolf looked at him more closely. "You sure you are alright? You seem a bit more... pink than usual."

The boy touched his face. It didn't feel different than normal, but wolf's remark reminded him of something. "I will be really fine. I just need to get a book from the library." Ingolf raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. The animal went back to his quarter, checking few times from behind his shoulder if Kurt was able to go to his room by himself.

* * *

Rory was already waiting in Kurt's room when he entered with a huge, brightly died book. The fox rushed to witchling's side checking for any injuries, but the boy looked fine, maybe a little shaken.

"Ingolf told me a little fox got him to run back for me." smiled Kurt "I see you've been abusing my gift."

"That gift saved your ass." Rory eyed the book in Kurt's hand "You come back from The Run and first thing you do is stroll to the library?"

The boy threw the thick volume onto the bed. Rory saw a title and said nothing, because nothing really can be said when a friend - _are we actually friends? – _decides, that the best way to cope with his first real combat is to study a book about _seduction_.

Kurt without any embarrassment started to flip through the tome.

"Are you looking for anything specific?" against better judgement, Rory was intrigued by young prince's sudden interest in this... area."I don't want to disappoint you but that one was written for women. I honestly don't want to know what your mother used it for... wait! Are those her _margin notes?"_

"I'm certainly _not_ reading them. Oh, here it is." Kurt started skimming the text more closely "I knew it!" he shouted a moment later "I should've open my mouth and let his tongue inside!"

That was too much for Rory, who started blinking rapidly, confused. "Open your... Whose tongue?!"

"Blaine's" started explaining Kurt, his eyes glued to the page "that's the cute dwarf I told you about. Except, he's actually something called a hobbit. Foreigner. Maybe that's why his skin is tanned. I kissed him. And his hair is curly now. Fortunately still black. And he turned out to be friends with the enemy. And he licked my..."

"Hey!"the fox decided to stop this chaotic rant "What I don't understand is... you kissed this 'Blaine' who is a member of Free Narnian Resistance and a _male_?"

"Yes, why?"

"Oh..." Rory searched his scent memory of who was at the tomb with Kurt, but all of them were animals... except the human. And he now remembered the thick smell of passion, so clear in this human's aura. "..._Oh_" That was... unexpected. It meant that Kurt didn't know there was a human in Narnia, which was good because otherwise he would tell the queen, but he also seemed to be attracted to the new candidate to Narnia's throne. Possibly mutual. _I think it's time to soon visit Puck and check what those morons are up to - _ decided Rory - _But before that I have to make sure Kurt won't read too much of that book_ - he added quickly in his thoughts, seeing unhealthy spark of interest in prince's eyes at the sight of some rather vulgar illustrations.

* * *

Narnians celebrated tonight. Finn brought out his best wine stored in some ancient barrels, Rachel was fluttering among guests with glasses, cups and midnight snacks.

"One more toast to all those who helped bringing the freedom closer to us today!" shouted an already drank faun. No one counted the toasts, so almost everyone was at least tipsy. They were drinking to honour few Narnians who died from dire wolves, they were drinking to celebrate getting the part of Susan's horn and they were drinking, prising Blaine on finding the lost sword of King Peter.

The only person, who was still holding his first and almost full cup of wine, was Blaine. When someone mentioned him he was smiling nervously, but most of the time he sat hunched on a chair in the corner.

"What a night!" Sebastian – slightly flushed from alcohol and excitement - slumped down on the floor next to him. "I thought I was going to die there. You should see how everyone panicked when those wolfs attacked. Some faun threw me at this deer so I escaped easily but I was so worried about you!"

"Uhm" responded Blaine. He eyed ruby liquid of his cup. He wondered suddenly if Kurt – he was tasting that name on his tongue whenever he was alone – had red blood or blood at all in his veins.

"I heard you were in a tougher spot." Sebastian tried to get his cousin's attention again. "So how did it feel being held hostage by our arch-enemy?"

Blaine opted to not tell truthfully how that actually _physically _felt, because Sebastian would call it an accelerated Stockholm Syndrome. "Quite terrifying." He said instead and that was a truth as well.

"Did he look like human at all?"

"Uh... a bit" said Blaine reluctantly. He didn't really want to say anything about Kurt to anyone.

"Are Your Majesties talking about that Witch's spawn?"asked a slurring voice in front of the boys. They soon were crowded by a pair of honey-drank bears and some staggering fauns.

"This is so surreal. We are talking with smashed teddy-bears." murmured Sebastian to his cousin before answering "Yeah. I guess you guys heard a lot about him?"

"We sure did! And Bjorn here" the bear waved towards his bulky companion "even saw him in action. It was few years ago. Dire wolfs got them paws on a boar family that tried to run away from Narnia. Said they had some relatives beyond Archenlands. Poor folks tried to deny all, but Maugrim no fool, he saw all the luggage, and they were on a straight way to Anvard."

"It's a capital of Archenlands, south from Narnia" explained one of the fauns - Blaine vaguely remembered his name was Giles.

"Stop interrupting!" grumbled the storyteller "As I was saying – they were in a lot of trouble. And then comes the queen with her son in a sleigh. She decides the whole family will be an excellent example for anyone trying the same trick. She takes her wand..."

"Did she changed them into stone?" asked Sebastian.

"If it was her it would be all done at least fast" Bjorn took over the story, eyes fogged from remembering " but she hands her wand to her son – still young thing then. And when he trust it in the boar father there is this shriek I'm never going to forget for my whole life. The blood is there only for a moment, but the wand got stuck into the stone and to take it out the little demon had to chip the rock... And the queen just laughs and says he still need a lot of practice..."

"He might look human but it's an evil incarnate." adds Giles again "Some says his father was chosen among djinn from Tashbaan so he could be even more powerful than Jadis."

"Oi! I heard the queen slept with a god Tash himself so her child's blood could be pure... evil!" argued another faun.

The drank Narnians started to quarrel shouting increasingly worse theories. Blaine, who was really uncomfortable at the beginning of bears' story now was really sick. All the smells and noise in the room were suffocating him, so after dropping his cup on the floor he run from the room. He wasn't allowed to go outside alone – for his own safety – but standing alone in the corridor helped him a bit to catch some breath. All those terrible words – demon, witch's spawn... - were hammering at his head stronger than any hangover could. The boy decided that he definitely did't want to think about Kurt tonight and he should go straight to bed.

When he almost got to his room he noticed someone who also wasn't in the mood for celebrating. Puck was standing leaning on the wall, one hand covering his face. An empty goatskin lied on the floor nearby.

"Puck?" asked gently Blaine. Centaur twitched, showing his attention. "What are you doing here? Everyone is celebrating getting the second part of the horn. Shouldn't the leader be there?"

"It's only the second part." spitted suddenly Puck "And this is the last celebration, because this is all we are going to have."

Blaine looked at him for a longer moment.

"Where is the last part, Puck? And no lying or avoiding answering." ordered Blaine, putting as much authority into his tone as he could.

Puck's hoof kicked the goatskin, as if checking if it's really empty. It was. Centaur's dark eyes met Blaine's.

"As I said, the giant – Will – has the last part. But he's now in White Witch's inner garden. As a stone statue. It's _physically_ impossible to get it."

* * *

**Next chapter: Of Christmas and Christmas gifts**

**AN: country Tashbaan and god Tash mentioned here are from other Narnia books. Knowing about them is not that important for this story, but googling them will provide some interesting info...**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: In last chapter there was mentioned Kurt's parentage – I can promise Kurt's father will be revealed at some point! As you will see in this chapter I will be throwing in some scenes that DID happen in original Narnia. It was actually one of most fun stuff to write – how to incorporate these and what original twist to give them.**

**Also, I'm not sure if I should put a disclaimer in every chapter, but yeah, I don't own Glee or Narnia, sadly.**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

Long and slender fingers were exploring his whole body. The face of his lover was buried in his neck, sharp teeth nibbling on the sensitive skin on his shoulder. He couldn't move, but he really didn't mind – the slender creature on top of him seemed to be more than capable of making him fall apart in pleasure on his own.

The fingers trailed down random lines on his chest and stomach. He could hear his own gasp and quickened breath. Amused chuckle from the stranger vibrated through his skin. He was slowly recognizing that silky voice... but he didn't want to think about that too much now...

Then the creature's teeth sunk a bit too hard to be pleasant. He wanted to shout 'stop' or 'wait', but his mouth couldn't utter even one word. He was getting more frightened as he felt the smooth skin pressing onto him changing to rough scales. The fingers scratched on his hip. They felt more like claws now and easily broke the skin creating angry red lines on his tights. The teeth moved onto his neck...

Blaine tried to shout again and this time he managed to.

"...ne! Blaine!"

Slap to his cheek managed to woke him up completely. Above him hovered Sebastian's face, wrinkled with worry. "You were sweating terribly and screaming... How are you feeling?"

"Like crap." groaned Blaine.

"How much did you drink last night?" asked his cousin, raising one eyebrow.

"Only few sips. I'm so 'cheerful' because of some fucked up nightmare." Great, apparently always dapper Blaine is swearing when assaulted by a night terror.

Sebastian with a sudden force grabbed Blaine's blanket and pulled it from the bed. The curly-haired boy yelped and jumped out of bed to snatch it back.

"What are you doing?! It's cold!" whimpered Blaine wrapping the blanket around himself.

Sebastian crossed his arms "Stop complaining! You need some fresh air after such a dream. We are going for a morning walk."

Blaine glared at him from his cover "No way. I'm staying inside."

* * *

"This is the last time I listened to you."

Sebastian snickered hearing the grumpy voice behind him as he strode through the narrow forest path . The winter Narnia in the morning looked extraordinary. The pale sun freckled the snow with sparkles. He looked at his cousin and tried to talk again about his dream.

"There is nothing to talk about." Said Blaine, blushing a little. "Just normal monster-chasing-nightmare."

"You do realize we are in some freaky magical country that believes in prophecies. I'm sure our dreams here have some meaning or a give hints on what we are supposed to do."

_I really hope they don't_ – thought Blaine remembering the night "Well... it didn't show me how to get the Horn together." said aloud. A robin above them took off sending a snowy dust from upper branches.

"Oh, right. You told me before going to bed - it's in queen's castle. Shouldn't we plan then how to get in there?" Sebastian watched the bird disappearing behind trees wondering briefly if it could also talk. "Surely Puck must have at least thought about that? Or was he just moping about it for last few years?"

_jingle-jing_

Blaine shook sadly his head "Jadis got Will about two months ago, so the situation is pretty new. Besides, it doesn't matter if we get there. The horn's mouthpiece is a part of the transformed Will and I doubt we could just pick it out and use it."

_jingely- jingle _

"Can't they just make a new mouthpiece and attach it to the horn?"

"I think it wouldn't be really Susan's Horn anymore and it wouldn't work."

_jing-jingly_

Sebastian finally got annoyed and halted, glaring at his cousin "Blaine. Can you stop that?"

"What?"

"That annoying sound."

_jingle-jingle-jing_

Both boys realized neither of them were the sound's source. Joyful tune was coming from the depths of the forest and was coming closer.

"That kind of sounds like sleigh bells..."

Pevensie looked at each other with fear. They heard only about one person using sleigh as a transport through Narnia forests.

"Jadis!" hissed Sebastian, grabbing Blaine's hand and leading them in the opposite direction of the jingly sound.

They were soon running as fast as possible, with the bells playing lauder and lauder behind them.

"Damn! There are no hideouts close-by" breathed out Sebastian. He was right – the trees here were all too thin to be a good cover, there were no burrows or rocks... The boy noticed suddenly a little depression in the ground on his left. But it was small and there was no much time. Not thinking for too long, Sebastian grabbed Blaine by shoulders and before the shorter boy would realize what is happening, he was tossed out of the path, down the slope.

He rolled for a bit before stopping on a tree with a loud crack. Blaine quickly untangled himself from the coat and looked towards the path. He couldn't see much from his position and it was quiet. _Quiet! Bells stopped!_ – realized terrified boy while moving forward – _Sebastian!_

There was definitely a sleigh on the path, but Blaine couldn't hear anything or see any fight or...

"Blaine! You can come closer! It's someone else!" he heard Sebastian. And his tone sounded light and relieved.

Blaine came closer to see it was indeed not the White Witch. Next to Sebastian stood a very tall and well-built older man in a burgundy hooded coat lined with light fur. He had a wooden, decoratively carved staff in his hand and copper-grey thick beard. Behind him stood huge sleigh with ropes of bells hanging from its edges. Inside was a massive dark bag, judging by irregular lumps filled with countless items. There were few reindeers harnessed to the sleigh – all of them massive and dark brown - coated.

The bearded person didn't look exactly like on the postcards Blaine would receive every year, but there was no mistake who they just met.

"I can't believe it... it's Father Christmas!" whispered boy in awe.

The stranger laughed loudly – his voice deep and rich.

"Of course it's me!"he bellowed "And I'm finally back again!. Hopefully this time for longer." he finished somewhat sadder.

"What about the White Witch? Wasn't it her power stopping you before?" Sebastian's interest got spiked "Does it mean she has... weakened?"

Father Christmas looked at the tall boy carefully "That's a good question, lad. The last time it happened it was Aslan's aura, but I can't feel his presence this time... It might be not our doing but something in Jadis'c castle crumbling on its own..."

Sebastian fell silent, pondering on this new information. That is, until Father Christmas firmly patted both boys on their shoulders.

"You better leave your thinking for different times, because today is a day to be jolly!" he grinned widely "I bet I have something useful for the future kings of Narnia!"

The man moved to his sleigh that was bending underneath its heavy load. It seems the bag itself knew what is needed, because Father Christmas wasn't looking in it for a long time. Firstly, he took out a slender rapier in a dark sheath embellished with golden leaves and ruby petite flowers. The man threw it in Sebastian's direction, who caught it easily. The boy examined the weapon with satisfaction. The blade was smooth to draw and its pointed blade looked extremely sharp.

"You look like someone who knows where to stab for best results." said Father Christmas with a glow in his unnaturally bright eyes "Now you..." he faced Blaine "...you already have a blade."

"It's not really mine." said quickly shorter boy, guessing what sword was referred to "It's king Peter's sword. I honestly couldn't..."

"Well, king Peter won't be able to use it anymore." interrupted him Father Christmas "It's a fine weapon. Use it with courage and it will become a symbol of victory as it should those three hundred years ago. And from me you will get something else. Let's see..." the man grabbed Blaine's chin and forced boy's eyes to meet his. He was staring into them as if searching the needs of his soul.

"I think I have something perfect for these golden eyes of yours" said the man after a while. He put his hand into the bag and took out something small on a thin chain. When Blaine got the item into his hands he could see it was an amber-like irregular stone, filled with inner light that seemed to pulse in rhythm to his own heart.

"It's beautiful... What is that stone?" Blaine couldn't take eyes from the vibrating pendant.

"It's no stone." said Father Christmas "In some different worlds people call it liquid courage, which of course hardened a bit after few thousands years. It's not that I think you lack the courage – on the contrary. But it will help you fill any emptiness in a brave heart that only true fear could devour."

Blaine carefully put the delicate chain on his neck, hiding the stone behind his shirt.

"I'll keep it always with me then."

"You do that." said Father Christmas curling his lips, as if he knew more than he was letting out. "Now I better go to your friends." he grabbed the side of sleigh to lift himself to the seat. Reindeers hopped from one leg to the other, impatiently waiting for signal to start. "They have to prepare a Christmas breakfast so they'll need my amazing potion for hangovers." the man laughed "Join them soon, boys!" Father Christmas clicked twice his tongue and the reindeers set out towards the Resistance base.

Blaine and Sebastian weren't even surprised that he knew where their hidden base is – he was, after all, a Christmas spirit that was supposed to be able to give a present to anyone, anywhere. The boys made their way back at leisurely speed, Sebastian baring his blade from time to time to admire it, Blaine feeling the pulsating light next to his chest that was calming him and feeling with hope.

* * *

When boys arrived at the entrance of the base there were no tracks or signs around suggesting there were any visitors here. Apparently Father Christmas not only knew how to smoothly arrive – he also was good at covering any hints of his visit.

Inside was entirely different story. The whole place, especially the kitchen, was decorated in red, green and gold ribbons. Most of Narnians were already awake and looked like the memories and consequences of the party from the night before were gone.

"That was some strong potion" murmured Sebastian "In our world people would pay fortune for stuff that works so quickly."

Blaine nodded absentmindedly as his senses were too preoccupied with noise and some amazing smell coming from the kitchen. That was where they found most occupants, already starting on some delicious-looking Christmas dishes. There was everything – turkey, mince pies, apple cedar stew, gingerbread cookies, rum-soaked pudding on fire... Blaine felt his mouth watering, remembering that he really didn't eat anything since their trip to Peter's tomb.

He was filling his plate with everything he could get his hands on, when he saw Puck approaching him. The centaur was definitely in a better mood this morning, although his serious face betrayed how hopeless he felt about their future plans.

"Your Majesties! I need to introduce you to someone." He started, bowing his head a bit in respect "He is one of our best agents. We call him 'fixer' sometimes as he seems to always know ways to take care of any problems. Blaine, Sebastian – this is Rory." he moved aside to allow the creature behind him to jump on a chair.

It was a slim fox with shining fur in brilliant red colour. The animal bowed his head murmuring "Your Majesties" before lifting his eyes to stare clearly at Blaine. "I heard that you two have just arrived, yet you already managed to stir up quite a fuss."

Blaine had a feeling those words were mainly directed at him. And not in a good way.

* * *

**Next chapter: Poor, bruised Blaine... :P **

**Let me know how you guys like it so far. Since there are some changes from the original story, any questions are more than welcomed, and anyone wanting to my beta would make me very happy!**


	6. Chapter 6

**An: I know it's annoying that Kurt & Blaine spend most of the time separate for now, but don't worry, they are going to be seeing each other more often soon!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

"And this is a counterattack finished with a punch to the stomach!"

"Uh..."

Blaine couldn't stop another painful groan when he landed heavily on the ground, his wooden practice sword falling next to him a moment later. It didn't help that they trained in a rocky area, with snow hardly cushioning the fall. Unfortunately, had to travel further south to keep the base's location a secret in case any queen spy would spot their sword practice. That meant a secluded area without any trees or animals living by. That also meant rough landings.

Sebastian walked to Blaine and extended his hand to help. The boy ignored him slowly lifting himself up.

Puck, who was supervising them, looked carefully on tired and bruised Blaine.

"Maybe we should stop for today." he said cautiously.

Blaine shook his head "I still can go on. Even if I'll just get beaten again."

"At least you have some good stamina." smiled Puck and handed him a towel. "But we don't want you to limp tomorrow. And considering, you are not _that_ bad. At least you've got muscles for it unlike the previous Pevensie siblings..."

"Well, he should be better. We _do_ practice fencing in our Dalton academy for Gentlemen." Sebastian was merciless. "Which Blaine wasn't that good at despite his never ending enthusiasm."

"I'm right here and I can hear you!" Blaine was pretty upset about the whole practice "Seriously, I got the hint that I just suck at fencing...and will suck at being a king... "

"Your Majesty..." Puck clearly regretted saying anything in the first place. "The fighting skill is not a measurement of great kings. You wouldn't need soldiers if that was the case. I strongly recommend a hot bath to soothe your body and mind." Puck waved at one of two horses, who were observing the duel with mild amusement " Epos will take you back. And in the afternoon you will continue to learn some history and geography."

"What about you, Seb?" asked Blaine giving up and climbing the white, well-built horse.

"I'll stay. Puck promised to teach me a new thrust that causes the opponent's hand to... anyway, I'll count on you to give me abridged version of Narnia's history later. It was always working well for me at school." Sebastian flashed his teeth in a grin, knowing well how to get on his cousin's good side again.

* * *

Rachel prepared everything – from huge tub filled with hot water to bowls with scented oils and soaps. She even hanged a "You die if you disturb!" plate on the door, so Blaine could have a moment of privacy in their always busy burrow.

The white puffs of steam above the tub looked welcoming. Blaine quickly got rid of his dirty clothes and lowered himself into the soapy bath. At first the hot water stung his bruises, but soon the rich rose oil calmed the boy and soothed the pain from practice. He closed his eyes, sighing with satisfaction and let his mind to wander on its own...

"So you are that famous '_Blaine_' Pevensie... "

Blaine almost jumped out of the tub. He turned around, splashing the foam and water everywhere.

"Who... What..."

Rory gracefully leapt onto the bed, next to clothes discarded there and stared at Blaine with squinted eyes.

"Uh... Rachel said she'd put a "don't distub" plate on the door." murmured the boy, blushing furiously and thanking every deity of Narnia for the thick foam covering the lower part of his body.

"So that's what was written there?" asked the fox with a sly smirk.

"Yes. You... can't read?"

"Of course I can."

Blaine frowned. "You are just messing with me aren't you?"

Rory presented his most predatory smile "Of course. Rest assured I didn't sneak here to watch you bath – I simply wanted to make sure we talk alone."

That didn't sound very reassuring for the boy. "About what? And why only with me?"

"Because I will soon make you into a hero that was able to get the final part of Susan's Horn." announced confidently slender fox with a spark in his brown eyes. That certainly got Blaine's attention.

"How are you going to... How am _I_ going to do that?

"By following my genius plan. First – you need to get into the castle's garden, where the giant is. Finding Will shouldn't be difficult since he is one of the tallest giants I know. Next – you need someone with White Witch's power to change at least giant's pouch from stone long enough to recover the part. The spell covers the organic bodies only so the separated part shouldn't change back if it won't touch Will's body."

"And why do you think I am best suited to do this job?" asked Blaine, but there was a suspicious feeling settling in his stomach and boy feared he already knew the answer.

"Because I saw you with Kurt alone on the staircase in king Peter's tomb." Rory was lying about seeing them, but he was sure that after Kurt told him _everything_ – with too many details – he could easily convince Blaine he was there.

Boy's face paled into such deadly white, that Rory for a moment regretted getting to the point so quickly. However, he really didn't have time for subtlety.

"_Blaine._" Instinctively, the fox knew it would be better to use boy's name, not the title. "I am not going to judge you about that at the moment – I have my reasons why. But others would want nothing more than Jadis and her son dead, so what we'll now discuss will have to stay between us."

Blaine nodded. He crossed his arms on his folded knees, suddenly freezing despite the hot water surrounding him. "I... when I first met Kurt... even when we kissed for the first time... I didn't know what he was."

"And now you know?"

"I heard... awful stories."

"I'm not going to lie. Most of them are probably true." said Rory with sudden sadness. He knew Kurt's world too well. "But you can't rely only on what others tell you. As a future king you should also judge things and people based on what _you_ see. What did_ you_ get to know so far?"

Blaine tried really hard to concentrate. He couldn't see what Rory's plan was and what was expected of him.

"He's beautiful." he started shyly, half-expecting Rory to laugh. The silence encouraged him. "Magical, fast, agile, collected, skilled at weapons, always well-dressed..." it was getting easier to find words describing Kurt. "confident, curious..."

"Curious..." interrupted him Rory repeating the last word. "Curious about_ you_. And this is what we are going to use."

"How?"

"You are going to meet with Kurt in his castle's garden."

Blaine was confused. "Meet? Like on a... date?"

"Exactly" Rory smiled, elated. "Leave the preparations to me! I'll even dictate you the letter you are going to send him!"

Blaine combed his wet curls, dazzled a bit by a prospect of meeting Kurt again, this time without fighting. _Oh, and getting the Susan's Horn together too_.

"... find the perfect gift."

"What?" Blaine just noticed the fox was in the middle of putting the plan together.

Rory rolled his eyes. "A gift. You need Kurt completely smitten so he won't be suspicious. It should be something pretty, reminding him of you..." fox's eyes fell on a hazel-gold pendant. He poked it lightly with his paw, causing the stone's inner light to flicker. "...something that has the same colour as your eyes and sparkles. Perfect."

"Wait!" cried Blaine. He winced, as his sudden movement made his bruises painful again. "That was a gift from Father Christmas! I think it's that kind of a gift I was supposed to have on me all the time!" But the moment he said it he was already changing his mind. He imagined Kurt having the golden pendant hanging on his neck, light pulsating faster and faster – reflecting his accelerating heartbeat...

"Okay" agreed the boy, fighting down arousal. "I just don't feel good about deceiving Kurt like that."

"You have a problem with deceiving an _enemy_ to save a whole _country_?" Rory's eyebrows couldn't go higher than now. "Blaine, you are going to do it and if you flunk out I will personally scratch your puppy eyes out!" barked the fox. He wrapped the pendant around his own neck like a hostage in case the boy would have second thoughts. "Clean yourself and join me in the study later to construct the letter. Take the 'don't disturb' plate with you – I don't want anyone else here to know our plan. Or that I have a way in to Witch's castle for that matter." Rory sneaked out of the room as quietly as he got in earlier.

After that Blaine didn't feel like soaking in the bath for too long. He was recalling the whole conversation with Rory while drying himself. If Puck's stories were true, he had no reason to doubt fox's loyalty to the Resistance. However, Blaine couldn't help but wonder if keeping his _intimacy_ with Kurt unnoticed was the only reason Rory wanted to keep the whole escapade a secret. The fact, that Rory had ways to get into the castle was surely something that would help Resistance a lot, so why hide it?

* * *

Rory knew Kurt for quite few years, but he was sure he has never seen him so happy and animated. The beautifully calligraphed letter lied open on the bed, the pendant swung freely on witchling's long neck while he was going through all the clothes in his wardrobe.

"It's only a date, Kurt. He'll be so busy watching your face he's not even going to notice your clothes."

The witchling didn't listened and lifted few shirts. "Okay, which one?"

"It doesn't matter... You know what? Get the buttoned one. " Rory knew when to give up. "Takes longer to take off. Maybe that will slow down your excitement."

Kurt threw the buttoned shirt back, choosing a soft, silky white blouse instead that looked as it would tear as easily as paper. Rory rolled his eyes.

"Did you at least listen to me and prepare everything in advance?"

"Yeah, although I don't know why should I do everything the day before, so I'll have my full power intact for the date." Kurt took out a small emerald bottle and eyed the shiny liquid filling it "I won't really need it."

"Who knows what you may need suddenly." Rory winked flirtatiously. _Like changing back someone turned into stone_ – he thought. "It's better to be prepared than be sorry later."

"I guess you are right" Kurt sighed, plopping down on his bed next to the fox with a handful of different vests, scarves and other accessories . "I'm just nervous. I've never been on a 'date' and I'm sure I'm going to do something wrong despite my research."

Rory could only hope the research wasn't limited to the Witch's book on seduction, which Kurt had read few times too many already. "You will be fine – he already likes you."

"But... what if I do something wrong? What were your dates like?"

Rory narrowed his eyes "Kurt. We had a deal." Fox's tone was serious now "And one of the rules was we don't talk about the things before the 'deal'. You were the one to have it that way."

Kurt fell into awkward silence. His fingers were smoothing out nonexistent wrinkles on laid out clothes. For a moment there Rory wanted to forget the rules and _talk_, but..

"The arbour turned out nicely. It should be warm and cosy for tonight." said witchling in a more cheerful tone,but not looking directly at Rory. "My mother and Maugrim have already gone to Ettinsmoor to visit the mountain chief and shouldn't be back before tomorrow. It's good you got me the food for the date because if I made it with magic I might accidentally add..."

"I know."

"I don't think I thanked you yet." said suddenly Kurt. That certainly was something new. The witchling nervously reached out for the fox and carefully picked him up. Rory allowed Kurt to embrace him tightly.

"There is something wonderful happening to me recently" murmured Kurt. Witchling's heart was fluttering excitedly. "As if I wasn't really _living_ until I met Blaine. And now there are so many new colours I can see. Feel."

Rory felt a twinge of guilt in his heart about the real reason for setting up tonight's date, but he knew that was the best way to help Narnia. To help everyone dear to him.

* * *

**Next chapter: the midnight date**


	7. Chapter 7

**An: And... the date starts.**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

Witch's castle looked hardly welcoming. It was built from a material resembling a black glass, with spiky towers on top of smooth walls. Blaine didn't know how anyone would choose to live in such a gloomy place, especially after seeing Kurt's great taste first hand.

Blaine looked once again at the drawn map at the bottom of the reply to his letter. The neat writing described that the temporary entrance to the courtyard – they didn't want to risk using the main gate – should be around here. He checked if his small dagger is safely tucked behind his belt underneath the finely embedded vest. He didn't tell Rory about bringing a blade with him, but he needed something with him just in case.

After few further steps he found the small door. Its texture weren't different from the surrounding wall, but he could see the outline and subtle hinges. Blaine moved his hand to knock and stopped for a moment. _This is it. It could be a trap. If Rory was wrong I could be now killed by the Witch or maybe Kurt himself._

He knocked three times.

Before he stepped back to wait, the door opened and Blaine got forcefully dragged inside. The opening closed behind him with a quiet click while the boy found his arms full of Kurt.

"I'm so glad you came." whispered the witchling before pressing a soft kiss on Blaine's cheek. His hands were distractingly busy stroking boy's chest. "You seemed so upset the last time... But then you wrote to me..."

Blaine allowed himself to enjoy the closeness of the slender pale beauty, before Kurt took a step back to give him some space. The shorter boy finally had a chance to properly look at the witchling since their first meeting. Kurt looked ever more stunning than before. Lavender moonlight brought out a shine of his skin and saturated colour in his eyes. He wore a white shirt that was made of gauzy, translucent fabric. Its neckline was wide, revealing the shoulders. On Kurt's neck was draped a huge teal shawl that was partially falling on his chest and on top of it sparkled the golden pendant. Blaine reached out and touched it lightly.

"You wear it?"

"Of course."smiled Kurt. "I don't really get what this 'Christmas' is about, but if it involves gifts from you then it is from now on my favourite holiday." He hooked his arm on Blaine's and lead them into the garden. "I have a surprise for you in my personal East Garden. I thought it would be a shame to spend such a beautiful night inside and... what happened?" he asked worriedly, seeing the shorter boy's horrified expression. His realized where they were at the moment. "Oh. Oh no..." To get into the East Garden they had to go through the Inner Garden decorated in stone statues of Narnians. "I'm sorry. I didn't thought..."

Blaine shook his head with a weak smile. "It's alright. I'll just try not to look at it too much".

He knew of course they would need to go past the figures. It was for that reason Rory suggested an outside venue for a date to Kurt – just so they wouldn't miss Will. However, it was still a shock to see the Narnians captured in the movement, most of them with fear on their faces. There were quite a few dynamic figures crouching , as if readying themselves for an attack and few kneeling with clasped hands – probably asking for pity. Unsuccessfully.

"What is that?" asked Blaine seeing on their way a tall construction of slender, white ionic columns without any ceiling, making it look like unfinished Greek temple. They were encircling few more statues like prison bars, but they were too densely laid out to make out what exactly were these figures. The boy curiously stepped towards it, but got stopped by Kurt.

"Don't go there. It's just more turned Narnians inside." The witchling surprised Blaine with the sudden tremble in his voice. Pale fingers clamped onto Blaine's coat sleeve. "Let's just go. I don't like this place much either."

Blaine wanted to ask thousands of questions. _Why don't you want to see them in particular? Were you the one who changed them? Why do you live in such a place? Do we have to hide so much from each other?_ Instead he just said "Of course. Let's go."

They turned away from the ominous sight. Blaine looked around searching for Will. It wasn't very difficult – the giant stood out despite being turned in a kneeling position. According to Rory the last part was hidden in the pouch, which was there as well, hanging from Will's shoulder.

_Here we go, _thought Blaine, _As much as I always wanted to be an actor, I didn't expect this as my first test..._

"I can't believe it!" he cried, eyes widening "What is _he_ doing here?!"

"Who?" Kurt looked around confused to find what got Blaine's attention.

"Will. That son of a..." the curly-haired boy was sure his angry expression was perfect. "Oh. I'm sorry, Kurt. It's just... " he trailed his voice a bit. _Was it too much?_

"What? Did he do something to you?" asked sharply Kurt. He looked ready to worsen the giant's fate even more. _Good. It works._

"Oh, this bastard stole something precious of mine and now I see I'll never get it back...And it was a family heirloom... My gram would be so upset..." Blaine wondered if they had Oscars in Narnia, because he surely deserved one right now with all the sadness pouring from his voice. If only he could feel happy about his _performance_...

"Can't you get it back from his house somehow?"

Blaine shook his head with resignation. "The last time I saw him with it he was putting it in his bag." he pointed the stony pouch. "But it's a stone now. I guess I'll have to forget about getting it back..."

Kurt bit his lips staring at those glassy hazel eyes. He knew he shouldn't. His mother would be beyond angry... but there was that boy standing here, who made him feel all those _emotions_ unknown before.

"I probably could help you." He whispered, tapping his fingers shyly on Blaine's arm "I can't change him whole back or do it permanently, but I could change the pouch to find... your precious thing." Kurt's heart started beating faster seeing how his guest's handsome face lit up with hope.

"Are you sure, Kurt? I don't want to get you into trouble." and Blaine truly meant that one, mission forgotten for a second.

"Well... Neither of us is going to tell my mother, so it should be fine. I'll just jump up there, change the pouch, take out your treasure and everything will be back as it was." Kurt actually was a bit excited. It's been awhile since he did something to disobey Jadis and it felt good. "Just tell me what am I looking for there."

Blaine didn't expect to not be the one getting the missing mouthpiece, but went along with it. "A... metal whistle?" _it looks a bit like one, right?_ He didn't know if Kurt was aware of Susan's Horn's existence, but hoped he wouldn't guess it's something related to the Resistance.

"Great. One whistle coming right up." Kurt grinned, showing teeth. He analyzed quickly the giant – he was kneeling on one knee, the other one covered with a hand. Kurt climbed on the huge boot, which fortunately was loose and full of wrinkles making great foot supports. Blaine was observing him from below, admiring Kurt's great form and _those legs. _The witchling apparently had an affinity for tightly fitting pants which looked even better from Blaine's current perspective.

Meanwhile Kurt got to the giants waist, were was hanging the enormous pouch. He took out his bottle of magic, filled to the brim with emerald liquid. Kurt poured it on the pouch, which soon started to soften and gain a leathery texture. When the transformation was complete, the witchling slipped his hand into the bag's opening and rummaged for a bit until finding a smooth and cold object shaped like a funnel. He took it and waved it at Blaine.

"Is that it?"

Blaine has never seen the whole Horn before, but he's seen quite a lot of hunting instruments and it looked like what he was looking for, so he nodded vigorously.

Kurt's smile widened. He tucked the mouthpiece at his pant's belt together with the already empty bottle. It was fortunate the part was found so quickly, as the pouch slowly began to harden and loose it's brown colour. Kurt was wondering how many centuries it would take him to gain as much magic power as his mother to easily transform objects for infinite amount of time. The witchling made his way down towards his guest. When he reached the end of giant's boot he curled his lips mischievously and jumped into startled Blaine. The shorter boy gasped at the sudden sweet weight and barely managed not to fall back. His hands instinctively supported Kurt's thighs and spun him around before gently putting down.

"Wow" breathed Kurt. "I thought I would tackle you, but you are stronger than I suspected after our little duel."

"It was dark then and you were using some magic on me." pouted Blaine "It's good you recognized me early enough."

"Very good, indeed." Kurt handed the small metal object to Blaine "Care to double check if that's yours?"

The mouthpiece was made out of a bright, almost white, metal and covered with delicate golden leaf design. It certainly looked like a blowing horn's part. The size matched too. Blaine with a smile put it in his vest pocket and patted it lightly through the fabric. "Yes, this is it... Thank you so much Kurt. It means a lot to me!" In a flash of courage he took Kurt's hand in his. "It seems Lady Luck is with me when you are around."

The witchling blushed deliciously. The red hue got even on the shoulders and Blaine had to control himself really hard to not tug on the teal shawl to see just how far down it went. "One more reason for me to be near you."

Kurt tightened his hold on Blaine's hand and gently led him down the path, towards the East Garden. "Let's go. The night's just started."

* * *

**Next chapter: Pillows and pleasures - yep, what says on the tin:P **


	8. Chapter 8

**An: warning – some M-rated material in this chapter**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

Seeing the arbour in front of him, Blaine thought he was dreaming. Kurt guided him into an oriental-style openwork small building. Instead of walls , from the upper crossbars hanged silky curtains cut in stripes and flapping from the slightest wind blow. The platform floor inside was covered with colourful pillows. The whole arbour was lit up with few lamps placed on long rods around the building.

Kurt chuckled seeing Blaine opening his mouth in a daze.

"Come inside. I promise it's warm in there thanks to my magic." He sit down on the platform and after taking his boots off he crawled towards arbour's middle. Blaine soon joined him there, admiring the style and all the colours.

"It's amazing." admitted the shorter boy. "Did you do it yourself?"

Kurt looked down shyly "I had a little help with inspiration. There was that illustration in my book..."

"Looks very oriental."

"Oriental?" frowned the witchling.

"It's a word we use in my... _country_ that can describe this kind of style you used here."

"Your country, huh?"

Blaine was waiting for Kurt to start asking questions at any point, but instead the witchling reached for the vase on the side and a big silver plate filled with what looked like different kinds of sweets and chocolates. The witchling invited his guest to try some together with a light wine. The sweets looked completely different from anything Blaine has eaten before – maybe because of some exotic dried fruits on them or the spicy smell... but they still tasted divine.

"You are not eating." noticed Blaine gulping down the wine.

"Umm... djinns only eat meat. Nothing else has actually a taste for us." admitted Kurt uncomfortably "But we only eat non-talking, wild animals like all other creatures." he said quickly "Eating a talking Narnian is bad luck after all."

Blaine frowned "Didn't Maugrim..." he stopped. He himself suggested in his letter before to Kurt to keep their date 'queen versus Narnians conflict- free'.

"Maugrim is an idiot, if you ask me." said sternly Kurt "Gaining immortality like that is not natural... even if by killing a human he saved us."

Blaine almost choked on his wine "Save you against humans? Didn't the prophecy say..."

"Humans and djinns are mortal enemies, Blaine. They would kill the White Witch. My _mother._" Kurt's burning eyes bore into the boy. "I know it was way more than two hundred years before I was born, but I still wouldn't be born. And now, when the new prophecy says similar things I doubt it doesn't include Jadis' closest blood. _Family_."

Blaine wanted so much to ensure Kurt he would never do anything to _him_, but that would reveal too much. And there was that annoying voice in his head asking, if he had to choose between saving Narnia and...

"Stop!" he said aloud, startling Kurt. "I mean... We shouldn't talk about that now. Let's talk about _us. _Like...how old are you? I'm seventeen."

"I'm eighteen." smiled Kurt. "At least the big age difference is not our problem."

The witchling leaned back onto the pillows. "Tell me about the country you came from. How is it called?"

If he was pretending to be a hobbit, he might as well... "It's called Shire." started Blaine. _Tolkien must be rolling in his grave right now. _"It's beautiful. It rains there a lot, but when the sun comes out it's full of colours. From the window in my room I could see the pond and all the flowers around it." Blaine was remembering his parent's country house and mixing it into his story "It all looks so fresh and vivid, especially during spring..."

"Spring? I heard that word somewhere before." Kurt got curious, shifting a bit towards Blaine so his shawl slipped to the side. Shorter boy tried hard to not gasp when he noticed that the semi- transparent shirt didn't do a great job at covering the pale body and he could easily see Kurt's mauve nipples through it. He forced his brain to work on conversation. "It's one of four seasons in my country that reflects the changes in the nature through the whole year. There is the spring, when flowers just start to bloom. The pink rosebuds..." he gulped "... are opening. It's green everywhere. There is the summer, when it is really hot and sunny. I sometimes would just want to spend it swimming everyday in the pond. Then there is the autumn, when all colours turn red, brown and yellow. The weather gets worse – lots of rain, wind... but also some sun."

Kurt closed his eyes trying to imagine all that, but it was difficult with so many alien words that he only associated with some books he had read before about the lands beyond Narnia. _Rain... that was like snow, but water, right? And_ _flowers..._

Blaine continued "And there is winter, which looks pretty much like what is in Narnia."

"It seems a bit unfair that all I've ever seen is winter." whispered Kurt opening his eyes. His fingers shyly advanced towards Blaine's hand. "But I remember now I heard of this 'spring' in Narnians' prophecy. I wonder if our loss would be worth seeing the world change from the winter, even for a moment..."

The shorter boy covered Kurt's hands in his as if to protect from what is to happen in the future. "Nothing is going to happen to you!" He said sternly. _Even if I have to order it as a King of Narnia_.

Kurt used the contact to shuffle closer. "And how would you know? You are just one person, my dear _hobbit_."

"Just call me 'Blaine', please..." Blaine whispered. It's one thing to lie who is he and different thing to have the lie reminded to him all the time.

"Okay... _Blaine_." The soft, almost feminine voice now breathed onto Blaine's skin, as Kurt decided to invade his guest's personal space further. "And you would really do that? That would mean going against your fellow Narnians..."

Blaine stiffened for a moment. Was that all Kurt's play to make him betray the Resistance? However, when he looked into witchling's eyes – the desire tinting them with almost ultramarine shade – he relaxed a bit, understanding this was only a flirting with a non-important hobbit.

He really didn't want to continue the loyalty subject, so to interrupt any more conversation on this he – for the first time – initiated a kiss, firmly capturing the pink lips with his own. Kurt must have been just waiting for that, because he instantly melted into Blaine's arms. The boy noticed, that while the witchling always looked like covered with a layer of frost, he was surprisingly warm, in a velvety kind of way. He allowed his hands to wonder through the pale arms, exposed shoulders to the chest above him. Kurt moaned into Blaine's mouth when the boy's fingers brushed over his blushed nipples through the shirt's gauzy fabric. Blaine took a note of the first sensitive spot he found on witchling's body. First of many, hopefully.

It didn't took them long to seek a more intimate contact and invite each other's tongues into the kiss. Kurt was set on winning their dominance 'battle' and pushed Blaine firmly down into the stack of pillows straddling him from above. He started playing with boy's vest buttons and strings of loose shirt, all that while still sucking on Blaine's already swollen lips. Kurt's fingers found their way into the shirt, enjoying now heated chest and stomach muscles. Blaine forgot all about his loyalty dilemma and stroked witchling's spine trying to bring the slender body closer to him. He didn't realised just how aroused was he until he managed to bring Kurt down. Witchling's stomach pressed the substantial bulge in Blaine's pants.

"Oh God!" the shorter boy shouted, probably lauder than he should. Startled Kurt ceased kissing, worried.

"What's wrong, Blaine? Something I did?" He was checking boy's body for any injuries or bruises. His eyes stopped on Blaine's crotch. "Are you..."

The shorter boy closed his eyes, embarrassed. "Yeah..." he chuckled darkly "Thanks to you."

Kurt was staring at the outline of Blaine's erection and thousands of thoughts were swarming in his mind. He sat in silence for a longer moment before gathering his courage. "Would you like... me to... _do_ something about it...?"

Blaine's eyes snapped open. "Like what?"

"I've only read about it, but... I think I would like to try..." The witchling licked his lips, nervous. Blaine waited, silent. "With... my mouth? I saw the illustrations and it looked pleasant and..." Kurt rumbled, not knowing why the boy doesn't say anything.

Strong hands took hold of Kurt's arms, steadying him. "It would be _very_ pleasant for me, but I don't think we should go so far on the first date."

Kurt looked like he was about to cry. "But... what if there won't be another date? What if something happens? What if humans came..."

And the witchling was more right than he thought, Blaine realized bringing his hands up to cup Kurt's face. Because he got the final part of Susan's Horn and the next day he would call for Aslan, for spring to come. And everything would change.

"Everything will be okay." he lied "But if you really want it... only if you _really_ want it..."

"So you won't stop me?"

"I would never be able to stop you from anything you wanted."

Kurt swallowed audibly. "I've never tried it before."

"I haven't either." laughed Blaine.

The witchling finally smiled. He looked down at the bulge in Blaine's pants, now twitching impatiently. One pale hand palmed it, feeling its warmth, while the other started to work on loosening the trousers. Blaine wanted to help with that, but was automatically swatted away by Kurt and decided to just settle himself comfortable among the pillows.

Meanwhile, the witchling managed to free Blaine's cock from his pants and for a moment just stared at it, lost. Of course, he's seen illustrations, but that was so much more intimidating in reality. He reached out his hands and encircled the thick shaft. It was hot and the contact made Kurt flushed. Judging by Blaine's gasp he wasn't the only one dazed, and that seemed to calm him.

Kurt brought his lips to the reddened head, that was already glistening a bit from pre-come. He licked it slowly. As with any food other than meat, Kurt couldn't really taste it, but he was so overwhelmed by Blaine's _smell_, that he didn't really mind. Encouraged by quickened breath of his guest, he opened his mouth and took as much of Blaine's manhood as he could inside. He tried to move his tongue around – as the book recommended – and it seemed to work, because he soon felt strong hands clinging into his hair and heard deep, throaty moans above him.

It was really hard for Blaine not to just give up control and start bucking his hips up. However, he was sure Kurt would freak up if he suddenly were to forcefully thrust into his mouth.

"Kurt..." he managed to utter "I can't... keep my hips down."

Fortunately the witchling heard him and put one hand – the other was steadily pumping the part of his cock that couldn't fit into his mouth – on his stomach keeping it firmly down. The additional body contact led Blaine to the edge.

"Kurt, I 'm close to..." he mewled. He didn't even know he could _mewl_. His hands tugged on the chestnut hair a bit tighter.

The witchling hummed something incomprehensible in response but kept his mouth and tongue around him. The soft vibrations from Kurt's voice set the shorter boy on fire and he couldn't hold it in anymore. His semen shot in between witchling's pink lips, while Blaine jerked his head back, wide eyes looking at star above them through the open ceiling of the arbour.

Kurt tried his best to swallow everything he pumped out through Blaine's orgasm, but there was still a leftover white trail on his swollen lips. He wiped it out with his sleeve and smiled – it was the first time he had a stain on his clothes and didn't care about it. Moment later he felt another touch on his lips – this time it was rough, tanned fingers. He looked at Blaine, at his warm hazel eyes and thought that maybe, just maybe he would want to leave his frozen castle if he could watch those eyes forever.

* * *

**And then they lived happily ever aft... Not really. Next chapter: mornings bring news **

**An: I'm serious guys – bask in their love while you can... Thanks to everyone for reading & reviewing!**

**spike4561 – Yeah, I know... it will bite them back at some point...**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

"...Wow"

Blaine couldn't believe what had just happened. Only few days ago he was at school, worried that he would never have someone he could call a 'boyfriend' and now he was coming undone from the touch and mouth of the most beautiful creature that existed in this world. _Scratch that – in any world_. He massaged Kurt's lips, which were now puffed from working miracles on him earlier.

"I should put it back, right?" asked Kurt pointing at Blaine's relaxed cock.

"I better do it myself." said quickly shorter boy "If you touch it I might just be ready for more." he laughed. He was buttoning up his trousers when he looked at Kurt. The witchling was sitting on his heels, hand neatly put on knees.

"So... was it good?" he asked nervously.

"It was _beyond _good." grinned Blaine "You know... I wouldn't mind returning the favour." He reached forward, but Kurt flinched a bit.

"What's wrong? If you feel uncomfortable I'll understand. I just wanted you to feel good as well." Pleaded Blaine putting a hand reassuringly on Kurt's shoulder.

"You can't... or rather I can't."

"Can't what?"

"Get aroused. Hard. Whatever you want to call it." Kurt looked at the shorter boy with pain in his eyes. "It doesn't mean I didn't feel amazing being with you. It's just... Ice djinns are not really good at... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay." whispered Blaine pulling Kurt in a hug. "You don't have to be sorry for what you are. Because what you are is more than enough for me." Acting fully forgotten, Blaine meant every word. Prophecy be damned, he was going to do something, anything.

Kurt relaxed in his arms. "You should probably go soon. My mother and Maugrim are coming back in the morning and I don't want them to find you here."

"What about this?" Blaine waved around them thinking about the arbour.

"It's going to disappear before dawn. I don't want to keep any evidences of our night."

"But we will remember" stated Blaine, leaning towards witchling's lips.

"Yeah" smiled Kurt. The pendant on his neck flickered happily when they sank into another kiss.

* * *

_...Male Ice Djinns unable to..._

_...Female Ice Djinns have strong enough genes to give birth to Ice Djinn children no matter who is the father..._

_...the only Djinns capable of orgasm are Fire Djinns, therefore they make better partners than..._

_...Female Ice Djinns don't need orgasms in sex – they still can fake it for the sake of seduction..._

Kurt regretted reading his mother's notes in the book before the date, but he thought he would regret it more not knowing why he doesn't react the same way as Blaine. It didn't matter to his mother much – she was so passionate about gaining more power and control over Narnia, that she didn't care about being in a relationship with anybody. And then she decided to give birth to a child, that would be as void of emotions and fire as she was.

"But _he_ didn't care." the witchling said aloud, as to assure himself of that. He laid on his bed on his stomach, resting his cheek on a pillow. His bedroom now seemed empty without Blaine's deep laughter and his intoxicating, masculine smell. He was remembering boy's face during his orgasm – so full of bliss and intense. Kurt was never meant to be in a similar state and that filled him with a bitter jealousy...

He fell asleep hoping to dream about Blaine.

* * *

Something was scratching Blaine's face. The boy tried to turn away, but there was a substantial weight on his chest. He opened tired eyes and saw Rory's muzzle and paws uncomfortably close to his face.

"Finally. I was about to try biting your nose."

Blaine groaned "We have to stop meeting like that."

"Like what?"

"With you surprising me at most inconvenient times."

"_I_ wasn't the one coming back in the middle of the night. It's almost dawn and I wanted to make sure you got your job done."

"Okay... just let me breath."

Blaine lifted himself after Rory jumped down onto the floor. The boy took out the metal object from his belt. On the way he brushed the knife, remembering how he put it there for protection against Kurt. _Against the sweetest and kindest person I've ever met._

Rory's eyes shone with tears of happiness when he saw the last part.

"I can't believe... We can actually... We have to tell everyone! You'll be the hero, Blaine!" he cried, elated.

The lack of pride and joy on Blaine's face was very visible.

"What happened?"

"Nothing. Nothing about the horn."

The fox tilted his head, thoughtful. "Is it about the 'date', then? About Kurt?"

Blaine rubbed his forehead. "Yeah. You see, we actually had a true date. A _date_ date." He looked up at Rory, expecting some kind of lecture on how dating – _do the even date in this world?_ – with an enemy is the stupidest thing he might have done.

However, the fox was actually smiling. "Kurt really is something else, isn't he? It's like he doesn't _care_ that there are even sides in our conflict. Or that there is a conflict in the first place."

"How do you k..."

Their conversation was interrupted by Puck coming into the room. He looked ruffled and worried.

"What were you thinking, Your Majesty! I was told you went somewhere yesterday without telling anyone and came back just few hours ago! King Sebastian was going insane from worry! You know how important you are to us!"

Rory rolled his eyes "Of course he knows if you remind him that every minute. He was with me..." he glared at Blaine to keep quiet "...breaking into White Witch's treasury to steal this!" He waved his paw at the metal object lying on the bed.

Puck's eyes were about to pop out of his head. "This is... that is..."

"Indeed."

"This is brilliant! I always thought Will had it with him the whole time!" the centaur caught Blaine in his strong arms and hugged painfully. "And what you just did was much more worth that winning any stupid swordfight, Your Majesty!"

Blaine wriggled himself from Puck's iron embrace. He tried to hide the guilty blush creeping up his neck. "I was just at the right place at the right time."

"We all could use some good luck on our side." said Puck with a serious face. "When do you want to use the horn?"

"Well... we need to repair it first."

Puck grinned taking two other ivory parts from the bag he always had with him. "I don't think that will be necessary." he said handing them to Blaine. "Just put them together."

The boy sceptically took all parts. He put the metal mouthpiece over the two halves of the horn. Nothing spectacular happened.

"Uh... I don't think that would be enough." He doubted, but let go of one hand to check if the mouthpiece would hold. It actually did. And when Blaine looked closer, the crack lines between the separate halves disappeared – the horn was whole and functional again.

Rory smirked "Always trust the magical objects to take care of their own well-being."

"So when are you going to play it to call for Aslan and our sleeping allies?" asked Puck, excited.

Blaine knew how important this was, how all Narnians waited centuries for help.

"Get everyone together and I'll do it now. You all waited already too long."

* * *

Kurt got woken up by the noises in the courtyard outside. He shot out of bed to realize this was the second time he slept longer than usual. Fortunately his hair was very agreeable this morning and he was still dressed, so after quickly wrapping a silver shawl - the teal one must have fallen off somewhere – around his shoulders he went to welcome his mother.

Jadis looked satisfied. Her slave dwarfs were busy taking care of the sleigh and her white horses.

"Good to see you, Kurt. The journey and reception were terrible, but we managed to conclude our negotiations with the mountain giant chief. I wish there was an easier way to get all the clans of allied races to respond to my commands... Maybe next time you might go as well, Kurt. It will be hard to get into ogres' little brains and I could use an additional witch power."

Kurt shrugged. He knew if the queen would want it he wouldn't really have a choice. Meanwhile Maugrim came back from checking on his pack.

"Your Highness, everything seems alright. I shall be in my quarters and I was thinking about another Run tonight to remind the Narnians we are back."

"Splendid." Jadis was in a great mood "Perhaps you'd take Kurt again with you? I don't think the last Run taught him enough."

Maugrim grimaced "If that is an order I'll be happy to babysit the Prince a..." he stopped, his nose wrinkled.

The wolf came to Kurt, frowning. He stood for a moment, as if searching for some distant memory in his head, when his eyes lit with a red hue.

"_Human._" he hissed looking at Kurt with shock and disgust "You've slept with a _human_"

"What are you talking about, Maugrim?" The White Witch wasn't one to be easily startled.

Maugrim spat on the ground "Oh, I know human scent so well... and this one is full of _lust_." His nose twitched and the wolf smirked "Why, is that human _cum_ on you? Is the Prince of Narnia now some human boy's whore?"

Kurt remembered suddenly how he cleaned his mouth with a sleeve he was still wearing. _But Blaine is.._.

"I'm not a whore." he hissed at the wolf general "And it's not a human. He's a _hobbit_!"

Maugrim narrowed his eyes for a moment before bursting out laughing – mouth wide open revealing reddened gums and yellowed row of teeth. "That's what he told you? I have no idea what a 'hobbit' is but I can tell you it's human jizz. And it's fairly fresh."

"Kurt" said coldly Jadis, who was dangerously silent until now. "Is your wish for us to lose and die?"

The witchling looked at his mother, confused. "No, I..."

"If Maugrim says it's a human I have no reason to doubt him." She continued "You are my son, yet for some reason you decided to betray me with a dirty _human_ of all Narnians!"

Kurt just stood there, unable to respond. He felt like something was pounding inside his head, a hammer stamping one word all over his thoughts.

Those golden ey_es... human_

Those full lips_... human_

This wide chest_... human_

This amazing, thick smell_... human_

_human human human human human human human.._.

He had to cover his mouth, feeling sick. Just few hours ago he _touched Blaine and_ _swallowed his... no, this human's... _The pounding became a deep continuous sound that made his heart beating furiously as if it wanted to burst out of his chest. _Is it how betrayal and disappointment feels?_

"What is that noise?" asked the White Witch in an unusually trembling voice.

Kurt lifted his head to look at his mother and realized he wasn't the only one hearing that deep sound. The tone vibrated through witchling's whole body, boiling his blood and Kurt was sure it's going to kill him from the inside.

He fainted, barely hearing his mother's angry scream.

"They used the _Horn_!"

* * *

**Next chapter: Messengers of change**

**An: So yeah, I did that. Kurt has _problems _and Maugrim is officially a dick...**

**Nosferatu Zodd – thanks for reviewing! as you pointed out, Kurt is not entirely emotionless, but neither was the White Witch in the book/movie – she was jealous of humans, easily angered when not everything was going well for her etc. But all those emotions were about herself, so it's more about lacking empathy than actually emotions. That's how I understood it, but of course I might be wrong :P I'm not an expert on Ice Djinns. Fire Djinns on the other hand... :D**


	10. Chapter 10

**An: So this is the last chapter that was already posted on GKM. From now on new parts will be posted every week or so, but I might try to make them longer – we'll see. For now – enjoy! And big thanks to everyone reading/reviewing/following! **

* * *

**Chapter 10**

The Resistance was leaving their base at south of Couldron Pool. The sound of Susan's horn had been strongly reverberating for a long time through the entire country and Puck was sure the queen already knew about their call. They had to get as far away from the Witch's castle as possible – to the east coast, to meet the other Resistance groups.

Blaine has just finished segregating their food supplies and intended to find Rory. The fox was his only connection to Kurt and he didn't want to lose that.

"Blaine, we need to talk."

The boy turned around to see Sebastian. The taller boy looked bitter.

"Are you going to tell me why you went to get that last part by yourself? I thought we were in this together?"

Blaine avoided Seb's gaze "I told you. We didn't want to risk the queen catching us both. And I wasn't alone – Rory was with me all the time."

"And by chance you got to find it? And managed to avoid around twenty dwarf servants, if Rory's stories have any truth to them?" Sebastian was stubborn. "I don't get you suddenly becoming a stealthy hero saving the world."

Blaine narrowed his eyes "How so? Because I'm normally weak?"

Sebastian groaned, frustrated "No... It's just... You jumped into this whole _king thing _so easily... With no objection, without any reason to help the Resistance."

_Well, there was a pretty reason for that... _"You could say I'm doing that, because what I can have here – being proud of myself, feeling good about helping others, even something as simple as having adventures – is what I always wanted and it's impossible to get in our world. Didn't we find the entrance to Narnia for that?" Blaine looked at Sebastian carefully "What are _you_ doing here, then?"

The taller boy only shrugged "I just wanted to know if it was true."

"Now you know."

Rolling his eyes, Sebastian took one of the bags to take to the horses. "Well, I can't leave my helpless cousin now, can I? You would die without me." he laughed nervously, walking away.

Blaine shook his head – he could never tell what Sebastian was thinking and recently he got even less talkative. The boy remembered he wanted to see Rory and walked through packing Narnians. They all looked at him with uncomfortable admiration, which only added to his guilt about his relationship with the young Ice Djinn. _And what are we right now? Boyfriends? Lovers?_

He spotted the red fur behind one of the trees.

"Rory!"

The fox didn't look surprised, as if he was expecting Blaine. Perhaps that was the reason he kept to himself away from other Narnians.

"Hello, our hero." Rory winked. "I am yet to compliment your lung capacity – the Horn sounded amazing."

Blaine squinted his eyes trying to figure out how much of that was a mocking joke. "I don't think it required any special abilities."

"But getting the last part did." smirked lightly the fox.

"About that... Can you check somehow how is _he_ doing?" whispered Blaine, aware of the red blush tinting his neck.

"You want me to spy on your evil sweetheart?"

The boy sighed heavily. "I don't even know what I'm doing anymore... Sometimes I know that all this is wrong, but... I have this hope that in spite of everything there could be something between..." his voice broke painfully and Rory felt his heart twisting _Oh, I know something about lost love..._

"Blaine... I don't want to give you too much hope..." he started, already almost regretting what he was about to say "But I wouldn't set you up on a completely hopeless 'date', no matter what the reason, if I wasn't sure there might be a way for this to work."

Blaine looked towards north. The trees were obstructing his view, but he knew that somewhere there was the person he like. More than like. "Why..." he started "Why I have a feeling that there is so much more you know about _him_. About all of this. How did you manage to pull off all those stunts I heard about from Puck?"

"You don't trust me." there was no hurt in Rory's voice. Just a dry statement.

"I'm surprised everyone else does. Unconditionally."

"Good" smiled the fox. "It pleases me you are not that stupid." He sat silent for a moment, as if calculating how much to reveal. "Everyone trusts me, because they know I have personal reasons to hate Jadis and I wouldn't hesitate to strike where it would hurt her the most."

Rory slowly stood up and turned his eyes towards the castle. "But I also have _very_ personal reasons to _not_ let Kurt get hurt. I guess I shall check what uproar your little stunt earlier had caused in the castle and if your witchling is dreaming of you. Do try to behave while I'm gone." With these words he sprinted into the forest.

Fox's explanation confused Blaine even more. He had a feeling that Rory was playing some dangerous game here and he only hoped his intentions to protect Kurt from harm were true.

* * *

Kurt woke up in his own bed. Contrary to before, his heart was now beating unusually slowly, as if the time flew slower. His body felt numb, mind void of everything. He lazily decided to not move from his bed. Ever again. Because that would make his brain work. And remember.

Kurt groaned – it was too late now. First thing he saw in a flashback was Maugrim's disgusting jaw hissing "human". And then flushed face of Blaine during his orgasm.

The painful shudder shook his body. "Please, no..." He wasn't sure who he was begging and what for. To forget the truth? To forget Blaine?

Someone knocked lightly at his door. Kurt stilled, hoping the person outside would think he was still sleeping.

No such luck. "Prince? I know you woke up. I was told to bring you food." Kurt sighed with relief hearing Ingolf's voice. That was presently the only person in the castle he was not wary of.

"Come in." The witchling was surprised by coarseness of his own voice.

Ingolf opened the door with his muzzle and stepped inside as gently as his burly posture allowed him. On a leather belt at his neck hanged bottle with water and sealed pot. The wolf stopped just by Kurt's bed and waited.

The witchling lifted himself up and squinted at Ingolf. "I'm not hungry."

"At least take it off my neck."

Kurt took off the leather belt and laid out the dishes on a table next to his bed. He lifted the top of the pot and after looking what was inside closed it quickly, upset.

"I am even less hungry now. The meat is raw."

"Since when is that a problem for a Djinn?" Ingolf always thought there is no better taste in the world than fresh meat.

"I prefer mine grilled with some nice spices. I guess Maugrim was the one behind this little menu change."

Ingolf's eyes looked guilty, confirming that suspicion.

"Your Majesty... there is something else..."

_Of course there is._

"They found your shawl in the Gardens and the queen spent few hours looking for any signs of using djinn magic there..."

Kurt was already unhealthy pale, but now his skin lost any colour left making him look like a ghost. If Jadis knew what to look for she was sure to find out about everything... His affair with Blaine being not so secret now... and the door in the wall... and his work on the giant's statue...

"The worst is..." continued Ingolf, feeling more and more awkward "...what happened yesterday, that sound. Her Majesty is sure it was caused by an instrument belonging to one of the Narnians - the giant, that is now in the garden... and it will bring great trouble for us..."

"And I took it out and handed to the enemy like a naive idiot" said Kurt, his voice emotionless. Of course. How could someone as amazing as Blaine – _human, enemy_, hissed the voice in his head – decide to try relationship with an Ice Djinn without any ulterior motive? Was the kiss fake too? Was the oral sex just a bonus entertainment?

Ingolf could see all the pain on witchling's face and didn't know what to do about it. Maugrim was clear on how Kurt should be treated as a traitor and Ingolf should listen to the pack leader but...

"I'll try to get you later some cooked meat, Your Majesty. I'm on a shift guarding your room now, so if you need anything, just shout." He said quietly, before leaving his prince alone.

Only after the door closed, Kurt understood the last part. He was a prisoner in his own house.

* * *

Kurt woke up again – this time something was definitely not right with him. His stomach ached, his head was sweating from a fever. He remembered something about falling asleep the night before, imagining his punishment on Blaine for his betrayal. Turning _him_ into stone would be too merciful, so in Kurt's version there were chains and whips involved instead. The witchling visualised the smooth tan skin marred in red bruises and started crying.

"Why didn't you tell me you were human." he sobbed into his pillow. "If you'd tell me I would... I would..." _Would what?_ _There wouldn't be anything I could do._

"...I would kill you myself!" Kurt shouted and immediately the pain in his stomach multiplied. The witchling bent in half trying to ease the tension. It was as if there was a fire travelling up and down his spine and deciding to do a little twist in his abdomen.

"You look like hell."

Kurt forced himself to look towards the door, where was standing Rory, with concerned Ingolf right behind him.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty!" Ingolf was fidgeting "This fox wanted to see you and we heard shouting from your room..."

Kurt groaned in pain and locked his eyes with Rory's. The fox's whiskers twitched rapidly. He looked shocked and... guilty.

"You knew." The witchling realized. "You knew all of this."

* * *

It took them few days to get to the east coast. The wolfs were rampaging around the forest so they had to split up and hide often in 'safe places' on their way there. But the farther they went from the castle, they were feeling much better, as if Witch's magic was losing some control over them. They were now at the east edge of the forest by the beach, where they were supposed to meet with a welcoming party from the Resistance base at Glasswater Creek. All Narnians were called to gather there – the Susan's Horn already blown their cover away, so the best course of action was to gather everyone in one place, so that even the wolves would think twice before attacking them. They wouldn't have the chance against all of queen's allied forces, but it would give them time before Jadis could send for help.

And there was something else.

Sebastian was the first to discard his winter coat. "It's really too hot. Do you guys have some warm currents in this sea Because that's definitely _not _winter temperature!" he said and other Narnians looked at him, baffled.

"What are you talking ab..." started Puck, just to be interrupted by half-melted snow falling on his head from a branch above. Everyone looked around more carefully and noticed the changes in nature. The snow on the beach was starting to seep into the sand, some of the trees started to bud. Puck grinned widely, when from between the trees came out a small group of strange Narnians. There was a couple of does, golden leopard and a snow-white unicorn.

"How good to see you losers decided to grow a pair and started preparations for war." – said the unicorn in silky female voice.

"For war?" frowned Sebastian, stepping closer to the mythical – until now – creature.

"Oh, you were going to _after_ you met me... I sometimes mix the present and the future, _sorry_."

"You are Santana! The Oracle from the Prophecy!" exclaimed Blaine.

"You got that right... Hey!" She stopped Sebastian, who curiously reached towards her mane "Hands off, boy! Only virgins are allowed to touch unicorns and I won't even start on how long ago that was for you."

Sebastian rolled his eyes, but stopped. Santana looked at Blaine with a flirty wink. "But you could if you want, sweet-curls. One blowjob doesn't make you a _man_ yet, no matter how mind...blowing."

"How... how did..." spluttered Blaine, his face glowing red.

"Oracle, unicorn senses." reminded him Santana. "Which reminds me... Aslan might not be coming yet, but he sends greetings. Pavarotti?"

Only then everyone noticed a yellowish little bird sitting comfortably between Santana's ears, leaning on the twisted horn.

"Um... He sent me to tell you... he says hi and he'll be here in a week?" chirped shyly the canary.

* * *

**Next chapter: Jadis has a splendid plan!**

**An: Anyone remember the scene in chapter 2 about Oracle almost skewering someone? Now you know I meant that literally :D**


	11. Chapter 11

**An: So sorry for the long wait! Hopefully this chapter will be worth your patience!**

**From now on my story is read and checked by my awesome beta – youngandobsessed – who agreed to sprinkle her magic into my writing and make it readable :D. Of course all the remaining mistakes are still mine haha. Now, onto the story...**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

Was it few days, weeks, or months? Kurt wasn't really sure how long he occupied his room for. After all, outside had nothing to offer to him – he could spend as much time in his own bedroom as he wanted and his meals were brought to him.

The only thing he missed was some sort of conversation with someone. He regretted shouting for the guards to capture Rory the moment the word "Spy" left his mouth, but he couldn't take it back now. Not with his mother already convinced he whored himself out to the enemy. So, Rory was currently occupying a cold cell in the castle and Kurt spent a lot of time convincing himself that it was a suitable punishment – after all he decided to betray him, even after knowing him for five years! _I should've allowed him to be captured in the first place all that time ago_, thought Kurt, pressing his lips together tightly.

The only person willing to talk to Kurt was Ingolf. During every visit – and he tried to visit daily – he passed on news regarding the conflict with the Free Narnian Resistance. And there was a lot to tell. The Resistance gave up hiding and established a military camp – proudly calling itself Aslan's Camp – close to the enchanted ancient castle Cair Paravel. The call from Susan's Horn had gathered there every animal and creature from the country in one place, making it very difficult to attack with current size of Jadis' military forces.

"This drives Maugrim crazy." Ingolf couldn't hide his smirk, he found himself losing a lot of respect for his alpha day by day. He probably had too much alpha in himself. "His old enemy, Puck, in plain sight and he can't do anything about it. Her Majesty forbade any actions until she manages to contact every allied clan to join the conflict."

"Anything about the humans?" Kurt tried to act nonchalant.

Ingolf shook his head "They keep them inside the camp. Wisely."

The witchling slowly chewed his meat. He had prolonged his meal to gain as much information from Ingolf as possible. So far the queen hadn't included her son in her actions, but he knew she didn't forgive or forget easily.

"Your Highn...Kurt" started Ingolf. Kurt insisted he called him by his name. _Do I try to make him a replacement for Rory already? For all I know he could be passing everything I say to Maugrim._ "Are you sure you don't want to look outside the window, Kurt? You are so curious about what has happened lately, yet you refuse to see the changes yourself!"

And there were a lot of changes. It seemed the land itself had heard Susan's Horn and woke up. The forest was already green and blooming, the snow melted and forgotten. The air was fresh and warm. However, Kurt knew that if he saw the spring with his own eyes he would remember his last conversation with Blaine and he wasn't ready to face that yet.

"I won't go and see until I need to." The witchling said sternly.

It would happen soon however, that evening he was visited by Maugrim with an order from the queen to come to the throne room.

* * *

The queen stood up stiffly from her throne. She wore a draped snow white dress as if she was desperately clinging to her winter. Her hand gripped the wand tightly as she moved toward her son. Kurt had seen such a tangible malice on his mother's face only once in his life. I hadn't ended well then.

"Kurt," her voice sounded like shattered glass, "I think you have spent enough time in your room. I can't just wait for my allies to assemble while these Narnians create an army for themselves. I need you to go to the As... to the _Resistance _Camp and destroy it from the inside as my spy. I need all information I can get – numbers, strategy, weaknesses."

Kurt laughed bitterly despite the fear washing over him. "And how am I to do that? After what you and Maugrim did I'm their biggest enemy. They will kill me the moment they see me."

"You _did_ sleep with one of them," said Maugrim. Kurt never really corrected him on what happened that night, so everyone had assumed the worst, of course.

"I'm willing to take that risk," continued Jadis. "I have no other use for you at the moment. Although I don't know if I can even trust you, I am pretty sure of one thing." she revealed her teeth with a predatory smile "You want revenge on your human. I can give you an opportunity for that."

Kurt fell into silence. She had a point – he needed to see Blaine one more time. To make sure the human would suffer the same amount of betrayal as he did. To... he didn't know what exactly he wanted to do, but he could improvise. There was a one problem, though.

"How am I supposed to convince them to let me near Bl... that human?"

The queen relaxed - this was going well. "The important thing is to let him be the first one to see you – that will be taken care of. We stage Maugrim attacking you and let your human be the knight in shining armour by saving you."

"And what if he calls for the other Narnians?"

"He either won't let them hurt you, or..." the queen smiled. "In any case, Maugrim can be fast enough to get out of there if needed." She didn't say if Kurt was included in the escape plan.

That was the most unreliable plan Kurt had ever heard, but that way he would get to see Blaine. "When am I leaving?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, at noon. We need your human to _see_ and recognize you. You may leave now."

Kurt exited the throne room quickly, not bothering himself with bowing to the queen. He had to prepare mentally for tomorrow. And plan his outfit.

Maugrim watched as the Prince disappeared behind the huge crystal door. "You didn't tell him what is to happen if the human comes alone, not followed by his soldiers, Your Majesty."

" Bait, spy or traitor; he doesn't need to know all the roles he is supposed to be playing to play his part well. I am bound to succeed one way or another, regardless of what the Narnians or Aslan will do."

"Very versatile thinking, Your Majesty" agreed Maugrim.

"And then I will bring upon them the worst winter they have ever seen."

* * *

Kurt detested riding on Maugrim, and he only found comfort in the fact that Maugrim felt the same. They both had no choice though – it was the quickest way to get to Aslan's Camp. The witchling tried to distract himself with how much the forest had changed with the arrival of spring. It was quite easy to do with all the new kinds of flowers and colours surrounding him that he hadn't even seen in his books. It was as if the whole land became more _alive_. The buzzing of the bees, the happy chirping of birds, the sweet smell of flowers and grass, the spots of sun playing on their path from between the tops of the trees... These new sights, scents and sounds were attacking Kurt from all directions, overwhelming him and making him forget for a moment what he was doing there. _And all this beauty is the sign of our doom? _He wondered.

Their journey stopped abruptly at the north edge of the Dancing Lawn, near the banks of the Beruna river. Thit way they were close to the Camp, while still hidden amongst the trees. Kurt slid down from the wolf as Maugrim sniffed the ground.

"This reminds me of some good times here," he said almost happily. "It was so close to here that I killed a human boy. His heart was particularly delicious."

Kurt's heart started beating faster. Maugrim's voice sounded _longing_... But if anyone would punish Blaine for his lies and mere existence, it would be Kurt.

"You better stick to the plan. We are here to infiltrate, not to assassinate." He threatened while struggling with the opening of his pouch. From the bag slinked out a shiny salamander. Its shifty eyes nervously looked from Kurt to the wolf.

"Okay. We went through this, Sig." barked Maugrim, not doing much to calm the lizard. "You go there. Find the short dark-haired curly boy. Tell him his boy-toy..." Kurt cringed hearing this "... his boy-toy needs help. Immediately. And you lead him here."

"Are you sure they can't smell me?" squeaked Sig.

"I'm sure. They don't have any wolves, and out of two foxes they had, one is decorating Queen's garden and the other one sits in prison." Sid nodded, slightly less nervous.

"Wait!" Kurt reached to his neck and untied the thin chain with his pendant on it. He wasn't quite sure why he hadn't throw it out. Probably because the stone was too pretty to dispose of. "Take this and show it to him. This should make him come more easily." He wrapped the chain around Sig's body, the ambery pendant catching the sunlight.

The salamander disappeared stealthily into the grass. If it wasn't for Maugrim's nose, they wouldn't be sure he had gone in the right direction.

"Sig is an idiot, but obedient idiot." Said Maugrim sitting down on the ground, focused on the scents coming from Aslan's Camp.

After a while, the wolf flashed a toothy smile. "Perfect, it seems the boy's taken the hook." His nose twitched. "I can't smell anyone else following, so it means he's coming alone... so gullible...Perfect."

_Blaine is coming. Blaine is coming_, raced through Kurt's head. _Alone._

"Maugrim, we need to prepare." He spoke cautiously. "So you corner me and then run away when..."

Maugrim growled – it sounded like a mocking laughter now "Oh, Your Majesty. Firstly, if he's coming alone, why exactly should I run? I often wondered myself, what would happen if I ate _another_ human heart... I think the queen forgot to mention that little clause in the plan to you..."

"What are you talking about!?" Kurt's mind flooded with images of an injured and bloodied Blaine.

"All that I'm saying is I now have an opportunity to nullify the prophecy by getting rid of one of..." he stopped abruptly, frowning as his nose wrinkled. "Damnation! He stopped!"

"Stopped?"

"He's... he's going back?" Maugrim became furious, that was bad. "That stupid Sig must've either spilled or your human grew suspicious." The wolf looked at Kurt "What are you waiting for? Scream for help! He probably thinks it's a hoax and that you are not even here."

Kurt raised his eyebrows. "Really? After what you told me about the 'new plan'?"

Maugrim growled, enraged."Didn't you plan on killing him anyway?"

"I..." Kurt trailed off, speechless.

"Oh, for the..." Maugrim didn't waste any more time quarrelling. He jerked his head toward Kurt at an arrow's speed. His teeth sunk into the witchling's thigh, breaking through the soft skin and tasting the blood flowing beneath. The sudden shock and pain soaring through his body didn't allow Kurt to think straight.

He screamed.

* * *

The more logical part of Blaine's brain was sure this was some kind of a trap. The lizard looked too swishy to have good intentions, although the boy desperately wanted everything he heard about Kurt needing his help to be true. And there was the pendant, now safe in his hand. All his thoughts and suspicions disappeared when Blaine heard the shrill scream, piercing through the trees straight to his heart.

"Kurt!" gasped Blaine and sprinted in the voice's direction.

When he arrived at the small clearing he was suddenly torn between jumping forward and running away. Kurt was there, half lying supported by a tree. His fitted pants were ripped on his left thigh and covered in a frightening amount of blood. _Red blood_, registered Blaine's brain for some reason. The witchling was looking at the boy with eyes wide open, their blue colour clouded by fear and fury however. _He knows!_, realized Blaine, but couldn't focus on the problem much longer, because there was someone else in the clearing. The enormous wolf had raven-black fur and red-hued eyes. Blood was dripping from his teeth, his tongue licking at it with satisfaction.

Blaine automatically drew his sword – he thanked God he had it with him - gripping the hilt with both hands and aiming the tip at the wolf's throat.

Maugrim barked out with laughter. "We finally meet, little boy. At least you know which end is the pointy one, unlike a human meatbag I once ate. Not that it changes the outcome of our meeting."

Blaine had his eye focused on wolf's silhouette, but tried to ignore the taunting. "Kurt! Are you alright?!" he shouted.

_Alright? With a gash on my leg?_ Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm alive. But I really wish you could finish this quickly." He panted, feeling his consciousness dissolving. _Maugrim didn't have to bite that deep..._

"Oh, this should go quickly." snarled the wolf general, circling Blaine and waiting for a moment of weakness in boy's defence. "And then I expect to feast on his delicious flesh. Mind you, yours was surprisingly sweet too, _Prince._" He licked the last red drops from his teeth.

Kurt could see the muscles flexing beneath wolf's skin. He had seen Maugrim in action before and knew that Blaine had no chance. Most of the creatures he knew didn't. At the same time the wolf liked to _play, _meaning Kurt was about to face a slow butchery. He patted the tunic he wore, searching for his bottle of magic. It was there, tied safely to the leather belt. He could either use it to finish Blaine quickly or help him to kill Maugrim, which was still a long shot.

Before he could decide, however, the wolf leapt forward.

* * *

**Next chapter: Aslan's order**


	12. Chapter 12

**An: I'm sorry for having you wait so long for the next chapter after such cliffhanger! Hopefully the length of this chapter will make up for it! Thank you for follows, favs and reviews! I'm glad the story keeps you entertained!**

**This chapter was again checked by amazing youngandobsessed :)**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

This was different from fencing practice. Sebastian's technique was terrifying, Puck often hit a little harder than necessary and Mr Colt from Dalton Academy knew this especially mean thrust, but this was different. He was fighting a live killing machine covered in fur and soon probably in Blaine's blood.

His feet moved slowly so he could always face the circling wolf. He held his sword level and tried to blink as little as possible. He knew, however, that Maugrim could probably smell his fear and had years of experience in killing to his advantage.

Then it struck him that this fight was different for yet another reason. He could hear soft gasps of pain from Kurt lying nearby. Blaine didn't dare to distract himself by looking at the witchling, but he knew Kurt was in real danger – of either losing too much blood or being Maugrim's next victim. The pendant flickered down by his palm, the chain wrapped around his wrist. Blaine could feel it's 'pulse'. _Does this mean I need to gather all my courage right now?_ , he thought.

At that very moment Maugrim's eyes narrowed, his haunches contracted and the wolf jumped forward.

There was a clash, a ripping sound and a sting of pain.

Red liquid dripped from Maugrim's right ear when the wolf landed on the other side of the clearing.

Blaine exhaled a trembling sigh. His left sleeve was in shreds and he could feel a few deep scratches on his exposed shoulder. He risked a look at his sword, its shine matted by blood. Suddenly the blade seemed heavier than before. _I wounded him... and the only way to end this is to kill him..._

* * *

Kurt watched Blaine from under his heavy eyelids. Surviving Maugrim's attack so far was impressive, even if it was only because of the wolf's overconfidence. However, even from afar Kurt could tell that Blaine's wound was more severe than his opponent's and the human's chances of survival were steadily dropping. Kurt clutched his bottle and realized he didn't really want Blaine dead. Not now and not later. The boy needed to be alive to apologize to Kurt, to be punished somehow, to be... to make it up to him.

The witchling threw the bottle towards the wolf. Maugrim was so preoccupied with Blaine that he didn't notice the flask before it hit his side. The crystal glass magically shattered and the emerald substance inside exploded into hundreds of droplets. The majority of them landed on Maugrim, sizzling upon touching his black fur.

The wolf howled in agony.

"Blaine, _move, _you moron!" Kurt shouted angrily when he noticed Blaine frozen in hesitation.

The boy blinked, as if just woken up. He thrust the long sword through the suffering wolf, twisting it at the end of his stroke. The sharp blade cut through his body like through butter, yet Maugrim still managed to turn towards Blaine, bloodshot eyes and teeth on full display. He moved as if to attack, but his body finally surrendered to the gashing wound in his chest. His paws staggered and with a loud thump, the wolf fell to the ground right in front of a petrified Blaine.

The boy wanted nothing more than for the bloodied body before him and his sword to just... disappear. No amount of practice had prepared him for what to do in the aftermath of real-life fight.

"Blaine?"

A soft voice broke through his frozen state. _Kurt_. Blaine threw himself at the witchling. The bite on his thigh looked bad. Blaine quickly tore off the rest of his shredded sleeve and pressed it on top of the deep gash.

"Your... your shoulder..." whispered Kurt, his eyes slipping closed. He felt so tired.

Blaine had almost forgotten about his own wound, but wasn't going to focus on it now. He combed the hair away from Kurt's forehead and cupped the pale face in his hand. The witchling's eyes were closed shut and his breath was shallow.

"It will be alright. _Everything_ will be alright."

The boy unwrapped the ochre pendant from his wrist. There were few drops of blood on the stone. Blaine delicately put the chain around Kurt's neck, hoping the 'courage' would give him strength to heal.

The boy was barely aware of anything around them that _wasn't_ Kurt, so he only registered the arrival of the Narnians from the camp when he felt strong arms grabbing him from behind and pulling him back. Blaine turned around to see Sebastian's worried and confused face, and about a dozen of Narnians of every different kind were gathered behind the taller boy.

"Let me go." Blaine pleaded weakly. "I need to help him..."

"And we need to help _you _withthat bleeding. Who is he anyway?" Sebastian had only now noticed Kurt. "I thought we are the only humans in Narnia?"

Before Blaine could answer him, one of the newcomers yelled excitedly, "That's Maugrim! Is he dead?"

Puck, who had also arrived with the others, knelt by the black silhouette and forced Maugrim's eyelids open. The bloodied eyes were void and soulless.

"Yeah. Funny, I always thought it would be me to kill him. Your Majesty, I'm very proud, that was a fine wor..." the centaur glanced in Blaine's direction and paused upon seeing the other injured person lying in the clearing.

"Witch!" he hissed and jumped to his hooves. Not all Narnians had seen Kurt before, but the ones who recognized him drew their weapons.

"What is he doing here?!"

"Does it matter? We should kill him!"

"No!" shouted Blaine, freeing himself from Sebastian's grip and lunging to shield the unconscious witchling. "He helped me! I wouldn't have managed to ki... _defeat_ Maugrim without him!"

Sebastian blinked rapidly, staring at the scene in front of him. "He... helped you? Didn't he try to kill you in the tomb?" his eyes narrowed when he saw Blaine's pendant hanging from Kurt's pale neck. "Blaine... just how well do you know him?" he asked coldly, looking up at him.

Blaine avoided his eyes, but his ears reddened traitorously.

"Your Majesty! Please stand away!" pleaded Puck. "I don't know what kind of spell this demon put on you, but he certainly has some kind of a plan!"

"Djinns are sneaky creatures," snarled a golden leopard, padding closer. "Whatever he said to you is a lie."

"No." Blaine's voice was calm and clear. "We are _not_ killing him. We are going to treat his injury. Sheath your weapons. That's an order!"

The Narnians were shocked – it was the first time Blaine had made a decision against their centaur leader. They clearly didn't know what to do in such a situation, even Puck hesitated, "Your Majesty, you can't..."

His words were drowned out by a powerful roar. The kind of roar that would make the bravest man try to run away, the steadiest legs to tremble, the thickest skin to get goose bumps. It soared among them and they recognized it held the same type of supernatural power that belonged to Susan's Horn.

The Narnians dropped their weapons to the ground, many of them fell to their knees, a few even hid their faces in hands. Puck had to try his hardest to keep his knees from bending. Both Sebastian and Blaine were terrified and enthralled, as the massive lion emerged from between the trees into the clearing. His velvety cream-coloured fur covered a well-muscled body. His mane – a mix of golds and browns – shone in the midday sun. But his most amazing feature were his eyes, sunflower yellow with speckles of gold shimmering in them.

Suddenly everyone present knew who the majestic creature was.

"Aslan" Sebastian mouthed in awe.

Aslan walked slowly towards two boys, paralyzing them with his gaze. They would have kneeled if they weren't already sitting on the ground.

Without a word Aslan turned his head toward Kurt, still unconscious. The gesture broke Blaine's reverie and the boy put his hand on witchling's chest as if to protect him. Fortunately it didn't seem like Aslan was going to attack.

"Please. He needs help." begged Blaine. "Can we take him with us? I'll take the responsibility for him."

Before Aslan could reply Puck finally regained his voice. "We can't. He is a _djinn_, and our enemy and..."

The centaur was silenced once again with a single commanding look from yellow eyes.

"Your King has given you an order, Puck." Aslan's voice was deep and rich, causing everyone's hearts to beat faster at the sound of it. Blaine sighed with sudden relief, only then realizing he had been holding his breath since making his plea.

"Help me with him, please," he asked Sebastian who, after a moment's hesitation, complied.

Aslan growled quietly, getting their attention once more. "After getting back to the camp I will speak with you, Sons of Adam. Separately."

Both boys bowed in consent. "I will go first. You'll need to get your wound looked at," whispered Sebastian. Blaine nodded, grateful that Sebastian didn't press his relationship with Kurt any more than he had. Frankly, after what had just happened , Blaine himself wasn't sure what their relationship exactly was.

* * *

The Narnians were less than thrilled about having the witchling among them – even if he was tied up and injured - so no one had offered to help with treating him. Sebastian had left for his private conversation with Aslan, so it was up to Blaine to clean and dress Kurt's wound. He felt bad about tying his hands, but even without his bottle of magic, the djinn was a dangerous creature.

Blaine had to cut off a large portion of Kurt's pants as they were too tight to roll up. He was desperately ignoring any feelings of arousal in the situation and tried to calm his hormones upon touching Kurt's uncovered leg. It had been too long since their last meeting, but it was beneath Blaine's honor to think about anything other than helping the witchling. Kurt's wound was deep and jagged, but after cleaning and covering it with an herb paste from Rachel it looked promising. The boy looked at the witchling's sleeping pallid face – thinner and less shimmery than before, but still beautiful. _At least he will sleep through the worst of the pain_, Blaine thought, wincing with every pronounced movement of his own wounded shoulder. Rachel had patched up him expertly, but unfortunately Narnia didn't have any strong painkillers. Another thing he missed from home, along with hair gel.

He didn't want Aslan to wait for him, so – very reluctantly - Blaine left the tent with Kurt sleeping inside. Immediately, he spotted Sebastian walking towards him. The taller boy looked thoughtful and more sombre than ever.

"He's at the top of the hill." he said quietly.

"How did yours go?"

Sebastian shrugged. "That's my business. Yours will be probably different, anyway."

Blaine arched an eyebrow, but knew when to stop asking questions. "If you're sure... Listen, could you check on Kurt from time to time during my meeting with Aslan?"

"Oh, your _captive_." Sebastian rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "I guess I could. Are you ever going to tell me what's your deal with him?"

"Well..." Blaine thought for a moment what would be safe to reveal. "For starters, he helped me get the last part of Susan's Horn..."

"Ha! I knew something was fishy with your previous story!" the taller boy grinned triumphantly as he moved past his cousin.

Blaine shook his head. _You don't even know the half of what really happened that night_.

* * *

When Blaine arrived at the top of the hill he saw Aslan's silhouette, sitting with his back to him and facing the sea.

"You can come closer," Aslan sounded powerful, but gentle. Blaine felt he could trust his voice to always calm him even in the worst times. He approached the lion and wondered if he should kneel or bow or both...

"Sit beside me," Aslan invited him, as if he knew the boy's thoughts and troubles. Blaine sat and chanced a look at lion's profile. Catching the sight of yellow eyes, he blushed and dropped his gaze.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he asked quietly.

"Indeed. Blaine Pevensie, future king of Narnia, why did you come to this world?"

Blaine thought back to a few days ago. _Why? _

"Sebastian was told a story by his aunt Lucy about a magical country with talking weird creatures and no humans in it. We were checking to see if it was true."

Aslan smiled. "That only explains how you knew about getting here. Allow me to rephrase me question. Why did you leave your world?"

Blaine wondered how the lion knew what question would unsettle him the most. He voiced then his reason to for following Sebastian into headmaster's office that afternoon. "I didn't know what I wanted to do. I wasn't exactly good at anything, I wasn't that popular either. I didn't have many friends because I was constantly reading something..."

"And here you are supposed to be a leader, a person everyone loves and respects. Have you gotten what you wanted here?"

Blaine looked at his hands. About an hour ago they were dirty with blood. About fifteen minutes ago they were caressing the face of a person dear to him.

"Yes. And no," the boy sighed. " I finally feel like I have some sort of purpose, and the power to change my life. I didn't expect everything to be so... messy though."

"You do realize you can go back, if you cannot handle this?"

There was no judgement in Aslan's voice, although maybe a bit of sadness. Blaine could remember well where the wardrobe was - they had left it open, so he probably could easily find it in the forest. He could just leave the Narnians to their problems and go back to his safe life... and regret his decision for the rest of it.

Blaine shook his head. " I can't. My mere existence has brought hope here. I can't take it away – that would be cruel."

Aslan pushed further. "There will be other prophecies. There might be others coming in the future. There could be other kings and queens that could defeat Jadis."

"And they would kill Kurt along with them!" Blaine blurted out, then immediately clasped a hand over his mouth and looked at Aslan, terrified.

However, the lion didn't attack or yell at him. "Yes... I guess we should talk about that," he spoke after a moment of silence, directing his intimidating stare at the boy. "Do you know who he is?"

"He's White Witch's son," began Blaine cautiously, "And he is supposed to be my enemy..."

Aslan was silent.

"...But I don't want him to be the enemy. Every time we've met he was just so _nice_ to me. And I think he could... he could..."

Aslan was still only _observing_ him.

"... He could change, somehow. And find his place in Narnia without the whole 'djinn' thing, without being threatened by a mere existence of humans just because of some stupid prophecy. I... "

Aslan's yellow eyes shone blindingly like the sun, pulling the words straight from Blaine's soul.

"I like him. A lot. And I don't care that I am supposed to fight him. I won't." Suddenly the boy realized how that must have sounded, "I'm not going to betray Narnians either! I'll still fight whatever threatens their freedom!" he added quickly.

"That is the dilemma, having the little djinn injured in your tent without knowing what side he is on. And you have an army of Narnians that expect you to lead them to freedom. But you need to decide what you want to do for yourself."

Blaine looked for a long moment at the fresh grass, bending lazily in the warm wind. _What I want to do? Honestly?_

"I want to save Narnia." He said, lifting his head. "And I want to save Kurt. I want to do both." He gazed almost daringly at Aslan. The lion smiled comfortingly.

"So instead of choosing you decide to carry the weight of both..." Aslan broke their eye contact, directing his gaze at the ocean. Blaine followed his line of sight and noticed something that certainly wasn't there before. At the shore, on a cape overlooking the sea stood a building that looked like a medieval castle. There were no signs of aging or destruction on its walls and towers, but it looked obviously empty. Its architecture was very elegant and the big windows indicated the interior received a lot of light. Blaine could even notice a wide open terrace on one of the fronts with a view of the beach and sea.

"This is 'Cair Paravel'," explained Aslan, "It was home to every human King and Queen of Narnia. It has stood for centuries, sleeping and enchanted to wait for the arrival of its new heirs. When every obstacle to free Narnia is overcome it will be restored and become your home."

"Wow... why didn't I see it before?"

"You had troubles that required you to look inside your soul and ignore what surrounds it. But it seems you found your solution and your vision has cleared."

Blaine looked again at the castle. If he was able to make his wish come true he would one day sit there with Sebastian on their thrones. He wondered if it would be possible to have Kurt join his court. If it would be possible for them to share a life there... He shook his head realizing he was already planning their _happily ever after_ without even knowing how he or Kurt felt about each other at the moment.

* * *

The pain was overwhelming, but Kurt was quite relieved to feel it. It meant his leg hadn't been eaten by Maugrim as his dream from just a moment ago had led him to believe. Then he remembered the nightmare didn't make sense in the first place, because Maugrim had been killed by Blaine.

"_Blaine_?" he wheezed weakly and tried to move from his position lying on his right side. That might've been difficult already with an injured leg, but soon became impossible as his hands were tied securely behind his back. Kurt managed to roll on his back and immediately regretted it when his left thigh brushed the blanket beneath him. The witchling hissed and bent his knee to keep the wounded area from touching anything.

Kurt now noticed that he was currently alone in a round, pavilion – shaped tent. The entrance was completely covered so the only source of sunlight came from the gaps between the ground and the tent's walls. In this dim lighting Kurt could make out only the silhouettes of two cross frame chairs, a simple table and some bags. There were a few items on the table, but none resembling a weapon. Kurt sighed – he didn't even have his bottle as a vessel for magic. There was no way for him to free himself at the moment and he was bored and in pain.

"Hey! Is there anyone outside?!" He was irritated that his voice sounded weaker than ever and cracked a bit.

It seemed that there was someone outside, as the sun rays at the bottom of the entrance were blocked by a pair of feet and Kurt could hear the heavy rustle of fabric. He squinted his eyes to see who it could be, yet that effort was rendered unnecessary when he heard their voice as they entered the tent.

"I'm glad you are awake! How are you feeling?" asked Blaine. _Why does he have that stupidly sweet and caring voice?_ thought Kurt, annoyed.

"My leg almost became a snack for a damn wolf. You tell me how I am supposed to feel, _human_." he seethed and then groaned – the pain had increased due to his stress.

Blaine frowned looking at his leg and kneeled by the mattress.

"I'll need to change your bandaging and I'll prepare something for the pain." He caught Kurt's gaze. Despite the dimmed light they shone with their own blue-green flame.

_I'll have to face that conversation sooner or later, so I might say it now._

"I'm sorry." Blaine said.

* * *

**Next chapter: confessions**


	13. Chapter 13

**Hopefully no one gave up on this story yet? I'd like to thank you all for reading and wish you all amazing New Year 2013! **

**This chapter was beta-ed again by amazing youngandobsessed, who patiently keeps straightening my tenses and phrasing. I can only hope it teaches me something as well :)**

**I'll be also including this story shortly into my master fic list on my tumblr: '****_tarabottiwrites' _****if anyone is interested ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

"I'm sorry," Blaine said.

Kurt stared at him with such anger, it looked as if there was a snowy storm revelling behind his eyes.

"For what?" he asked, dangerously calm. "For lying about who you are? Or maybe for using me for your own goals? I know why you set up our date. That bullshit about a family heirloom, fairy tales about your country... Did you have fun making that up? Or was it all planned by Rory?"

Blaine knelt by the seething witchling, completely petrified. His icy tone cut into his heart more painfully than if Kurt had shouted. "Kurt... you might not believe me now, but... everything I told you about my feelings was true. I had started to like you way before I knew who you were and I never stopped." Blaine tentatively reached for the witchling's hand, but was too afraid to touch it. "I know what I did was wrong and I'm so, so sorry for that."

Kurt reached slowly to the pendant on his neck. "Was this a 'true' gift, or would you like it back?" he asked.

"It's yours, if you still want to wear it."

The witchling held the stone up and eyed it. "The colour is a bit like your eyes. I'm not sure if it's a good or bad thing at the moment." Blaine felt a small relief when Kurt allowed the stone to fall back onto his collarbone.

"I was worried about you after that meeting," the boy continued. " I even asked Rory to check on you... did he manage to get into the castle?"

"Yeah..." Kurt confirmed, looking upset. "I got him imprisoned before he would tell me his reason for coming, though."

Blaine almost jumped, shocked. "You did what?!"

"I did what a Prince is supposed to do – catching and imprisoning rebels." The witchling's blue eyes shone for a second with a cold, inhumane power, making Blaine flinch away.

"I thought you knew each other?"

"We did – for five years. That's why his betrayal felt so much worse." Kurt sighed, the light in his eyes dimming. "And then I couldn't save him – I could only make sure he wasn't turned into stone. For now."

Blaine leaned closer. "We could help him. We could try to free him." He risked covering Kurt's pallid hand with his own. The witchling didn't move away, but he shook his head, still bitter.

"The castle is too well guarded. I can't go there anymore and I don't have any friends inside that could help me."

Blaine was confused. "Wait... aren't you the Prince?"

"I'm not exactly on best terms with the queen at the moment," Kurt gazed at the boy coldly. "Which is _your_ fault! Yours and your stupid smell! And now Maugrim's death will be pinned on me as well. I swear you'll-" snipped Kurt and immediately hissed in pain – his bitten leg hurt immensely. "Damn... I need to take care of _that_ first."

"Rachel gave me this herb paste..." Blaine moved to get the pot, but Kurt squeezed his hand, stopping him.

"Sorry, but I'm not using some _mud_ made by peasants. How long have I slept?"

"What does it have to do with-"

"Just tell me," Kurt growled, irritated.

"Around 5 hours, I think... I was actually expecting you to sleep till tomorrow." Blaine wondered why it was important right now.

The witchling didn't look happy about the answer. "Damn... It might not be enough to entirely heal it..." He looked at Blaine. "I need you to get me a vessel."

"A vessel?"

"Is there an echo in here? A vessel. Anything will do."

Blaine rushed clumsily to search for something suitable. He didn't have many possessions in his tent and most of them were given to him by other Narnians and therefore, it didn't really feel like 'his'. Blaine glanced at the table – the only 'vessel' there at the moment was a simple cracked ceramic cup.

"Would this work?" Blaine asked, lifting the cup for Kurt to see.

The witchling winced upon seeing the tasteless atrocity. "Will have to. I can't believe I'm going to touch this ugliness, but I don't have much choice. Bring it to me."

Blaine came to Kurt's side and helped him, gathering a few pillows together so the witchling could lean on them. He then placed the cup in Kurt's hands, unsure what was about to happen.

The witchling studied the vessel in his hands as if to remember its shape. He glanced at Blaine. "If I were you I would pay attention to what I'm going to do. You might never have the chance to see how djinns funnel their magic power into this world again," he said in a sultry voice.

He didn't have to say that twice – Blaine's eyes were glued to him now that the shorter boy had an excuse to ogle the witchling.

Kurt clenched the ugly cup so tightly to the point that his knuckles turned white. His eyes widened and shone with a royal blue light that looked as dangerous as it was fascinating. His fair skin shimmered and there seemed to be blue lights travelling through his veins under his almost translucent skin. Even the air quivered around the witchling, surrounding him in a protective dome. Blaine watched it all hypnotized. Kurt had never before looked so far from being human as he did now, but Blaine noticed that it didn't scare him. Maybe being in the company of non-humans for so long made him more open-minded, but he really didn't care about 'djinn' part of the person he cared for. About the person he loved.

And as soon as Blaine thought the word 'love' his heart pounded fiercely against his chest in joy. He was in love. In love with a djinn – his supernatural enemy, whom he only knew for a short time – and still he couldn't be happier. A wide grin spread on his mouth, brightening his face.

Meanwhile Kurt was channelling all his power into the ugly cup. The edges of the vessel seemed to blur and warp under the witchling's shimmering fingers. The tent was filled with crackling sounds and Kurt's face started to look really tired. Blaine was about to interrupt him and suggest to the witchling that he should rest, when the cup flashed a bright light and fell on the floor. Kurt panted furiously and hunched forward.

"Shit! I hope it didn't break," he hissed and turned toward Blaine. "Where is it?"

The boy looked around – there was no cup, just... a crystal bottle that suspiciously looked exactly like the one Kurt had broken in the forest earlier. Blaine took it – it felt icy cold – and handed it to Kurt. The witchling looked disappointed.

"Only half..." he complained examining the vessel. "At least it will take away some of the pain..."

Kurt leaned over his injured leg and carefully unwrapped the blood-soaked bandages. The wound looked raw and burning, its dark, red colour contrasting with his milky skin. The witchling moved the bottle over the bite, but hesitated. He glanced at Blaine.

"Keep my leg steady so I won't waste any of it," he ordered the boy. Blaine eagerly shuffled closer and with trembling – from excitement and embarrassment – hands he held the lean leg down.

"And don't think I'm not going to get you back for destroying my trousers and leering at my leg," snarled Kurt from above, but the corners of his lips twitched at seeing guilt in Blaine's eyes.

The witchling tilted the bottle close to the wound. When the first drop landed on the raw flesh Blaine had to use all of his strength to immobilize Kurt's limb as the witchling thrashed from its nasty sting. The poured liquid started to evaporate as soon as it touched the skin with a sizzle that reminded Blaine of the sound it made upon landing on Maugrim... The boy looked questioningly at Kurt, feeling a bit sick.

"It's meant to do that. I'll be fine," said Kurt, wincing from the burning pain.

After all the liquid was gone, the wound looked much better. The torn skin was no longer bleeding, even though the thin tissue of scarring looked like it could tear any moment.

"That's all I could do today." Kurt looked disappointed. "I really hope the scars won't be too visible... You can let go, Blaine," he added dryly.

The boy noticed he was still holding Kurt's leg and let go quickly, grimacing upon the pain in his shoulder caused by the too sudden movement. Even with being so absorbed in his own state, the witchling noticed Blaine's distress. He looked at the human's bandaged shoulder with a frown and suddenly paled.

"You're hurt as well," Kurt said quietly.

Blaine smiled, confused. "Yeah, it's wrapped up well so shouldn't take too long to heal."

Kurt thought for a moment. "You got it from saving me," he remembered.

"Small price," the boy shrugged. _What Kurt was trying to say?_

"If I..." Kurt pressed his lips into a thin line in a moment of hesitation. "If I was a human... Would I heal _you_ first? Not myself?"

Blaine stared at Kurt, who clearly was surprised himself by that question. "I don't know," he answered honestly. " For starters, humans don't have amazing magical powers," he tried jokingly.

The witchling couldn't help rolling his eyes. "I know, I just..." He pouted. "Nevermind."

There was an awkward silence between them as they waited for each other to formulate uncomfortable questions with undesirable answers. Kurt glanced at his scarred leg.

"After I heal... What is going to happen?"

"What do you want to happen?" Blaine asked immediately.

"Oh, I don't know... You could tell me all your secrets plans for the war and let me return to my castle," answered Kurt with a theatrical nonchalance. Blaine laughed at that.

"Oh, we kind of figured out you were supposed to be a spy," confessed the boy with a smile.

"And... you still let me in? I don't know what my mother is scared of – you guys are obviously mentally ill and therefore harmless."

Blaine raked his curls nervously. "Actually... the rest wanted to kill you on the spot, but I ordered them to bring you to the camp instead."

"Why?" Kurt couldn't understand. "Getting hurt, killing Maugrim... for all you know that could've been my plan." _And parts of it were._

"I... I had to be sure you were somewhere I know is safe," Blaine said. "I'm also pretty sure you didn't plan on Maugrim turning against you, which means your side is not safe for you either."

"Which was your fault in the first place."

Blaine was a bit naive, definitely smitten, but not stupid. "Hey, I'm not the only guilty party here!" he protested. "I liked you. You liked me. We were on different sides. I guess it was meant to blow up in our faces sooner or later."

Kurt blushed guiltily at that retort, but wasn't about to back down. "It's funny how you used the past tense for 'us' there," he spat. Blaine's ears twitched at that.

"I didn't know if there was still an 'us'. Is there a chance..."

"Oh, I don't know. Is the _great and mighty_ King of Narnia still interested in an _evil_ witch?" sneered Kurt.

"No," said Blaine, but before his answer could sink in, he added. "But he is interested in a beautiful, _not-so-evil_ witchling."

"Really? And it wasn't for him only a short, meaningless affair?"

Instead on allowing their banter to continue, Blaine leaned forward, cupping Kurt's face. His shoulder protested in pain, but the boy couldn't have cared less, because he finally had the chance to do, what he had wanted to do since coming back to the camp. Blaine pressed his lips to Kurt's, muffling the witchling's protests. Kurt's lips seemed drier than before, but they still were perfect, and after a moment of shock he responded to the kiss.

For Kurt, their sudden intimate connection reminded him of how he had felt in Peter's tomb that night and later, during their date in the castle's gardens – when they both had nothing to do with any war yet. Only what they wanted had mattered. The witchling encircled Blaine's shoulders with his arms, feeling the pure warmth emanating from the boy that he had missed so much. It brought back all his favourite memories: the date with Blaine, nights spent talking with Rory, the rare moments when he could meet and hug his father... He marvelled in them until he felt Blaine pulling away.

"...rt. Kurt!" the witchling saw Blaine's pained face.

"Your hug... My shoulder started to hurt a bit," the boy explained.

"I'm sorry!" Kurt quickly retreated, his eyes blinking rapidly. "It just felt too nice, too natural as if-"

"As if we were meant to be together?" Blaine finished for him with a hopeful look.

_Yes._ "I don't know, It's all too confusing."

Blaine shook his head. "For me it's actually all perfectly clear."

Kurt tilted his head questioningly at the sudden confidence and calm in the boy's voice.

"I..." Blaine covered the witchling's hand with his own and could feel the tremble of anticipation and fear under Kurt's luminous skin. "I think I love you, Kurt. No, I'm pretty sure I love you."

The witchling froze. Oh, he knew the phrase 'love'. Rory would always tear up and babble about his undying feelings toward Sugar after drinking too much wine. Ingolf was very interested in a certain snow white-coated female wolf from his pack and would wail to her all nights, hoping. Also Kurt's father would sometimes whisper sadly these words to him or Jadis – although the latter never said anything in return. Somehow, it seemed that 'love' was not as much a happiness as rather a suffering. And Djinns didn't like the idea of 'suffering'. Kurt felt like he should explain this to Blaine, but wasn't sure how.

"I don't think it's possible for me, as a djinn, to ever love you," he said really slowly, watching as Blaine tried to hide his disappointment. "I still like you, though," he felt the need to add.

"It's okay," replied Blaine. He expected such a response to his badly-timed confession, but it still stung. The boy stood up clumsily. "I'll let you rest. There will be a guard in front of the tent, so shout if you need anything."

Kurt watched the short, but well-built silhouette move toward the entrance and then he remembered something.

"Blaine!" he stopped the departing boy for a moment. "Tomorrow... come back, okay? I'll heal your injury."

Blaine glanced at the witchling over his shoulder. "I'll definitely come tomorrow," he promised before walking outside.

* * *

Blaine Pevensie could have probably spent the entire night thinking about Kurt and his hopeless feelings, but Sebastian was about to present him with an alternative.

"Let's go there," the taller boy said.

"Where?"

Sebastian groaned, impatient. "To Cair Paravel, of course. Aren't you curious about the place? Please, don't tell me Aslan hasn't shown it to you."

"Aren't we supposed to wait till we win the war against Jadis?" Blaine looked around the camp as if expecting Aslan to eavesdrop on them.

The camp, however, was quiet, except for the night guards talking to each other for entertainment. No one would stop the future kings of Narnia to go wherever they wanted anyway.

"I've already checked it out earlier while you were busy with your little spy," Sebastian continued to convince his friend. "The door is open – it seems 'enchanted' doesn't equal 'closed shut'."

Blaine's resolve was beginning to break. "Why do you need me? It looks like you could see the castle by yourself just as well."

"It's not as fun. Come on, Blaine. Didn't you want to have adventure?"

That was true. He wanted to see something new, something that would occupy his mind instead of his unrequited feelings for the beautiful witchling. Blaine nodded and let Sebastian lead the way to the cliff.

If the guards had any concerns about their future leaders' night-time stroll, they didn't voice them, letting them pass in silence. Blaine and Sebastian for some reason also were quiet during their journey to the castle – making the moonlit trip seem almost like a soundless dream.

That was until Sebastian stopped Blaine with a hand on his arm. "Careful, some stones here are dangerously loose," he whispered and insisted on holding the shorter boy's hand while descending from the hill onto the path that led to the main gate.

They could see the castle from afar and Blaine got the weird feeling of deja-vu. He soon recalled that he had seen already one castle in Narnia during night time – the White Witch's castle. Both buildings seemed surprisingly similar in construction and Blaine couldn't help but wonder if Jadis tried to mimic Cair Paravel to make herself feel more like a proper queen.

Both boys passed through the arched entrance. The courtyard was menacingly empty. The floor made of white stone reflected the light from the waxing moon. The walls were overgrown with ivy that made the place look like Sleeping Beauty's home. Blaine almost expected to see some snoring servants lying around.

"This way," Sebastian urged him to cross into the interior of the castle through the massive wooden door, which they opened effortlessly. Once inside, it was easy to find the throne room – they just needed to follow the biggest staircases and the widest corridors. The way up was rather uneventful and dull – alternating between stone stairs and stone passages. However, the throne room...

"Wow..."

"That's one word for it," chuckled Sebastian.

Blaine looked around the massive space, full of ornate columns, crystal chandeliers and paintings – everything was covered with a layer of dust, but showed no other signs of decay. At the other end of the room across from them the floor was raised by a podium. There sat two enormous stone thrones – Blaine guessed they would belong to Sebastian and him.

"But that's not all," said Sebastian as if he knew what Blaine was just looking at. "Check what's behind the thrones."

Blaine walked through the room toward the podium. It was hard to see much in the moonlight, but he could recognize the framed opening behind the stone chairs – it was the terrace overlooking the sea that he had noticed during his talk earlier with Aslan. He could clearly see the foam on top of the waves below and hear their calming rhythmic sound.

Blaine stood there, taking in the view in front of him for a few minutes before admitting, "I could get used to this."

Sebastian noiselessly appeared by his side. "Me too. Although the view kind of makes you lonely, doesn't it?"

Blaine glanced at the taller boy and noticed that Sebastian must've been watching him the whole time.

"Maybe," his reply was cautious as he suddenly felt uncomfortable under the stare of his friend's green eyes.

"I knew for a long time that you never belonged in our _past_ world. Too much charisma, too much good will and not enough shrewdness," Sebastian said out of the blue. There was a softness in his voice that his cousin had never heard before.

Blaine frowned, his head starting to feel dizzy from confusion and unease. The taller boy continued.

"You know, you are actually quite similar to aunt Lucy – at least in relation to her first trip to Narnia. Making friends so easily with everyone here, making everyone _care_ about you. And adapting to all these crazy rules here with such ease... Aunt Lucy was always sure that together with her siblings they would make great kings and queens and help the Narnians. So do you."

"I... what are you trying to say, Seb?" Blaine could feel his hair stand up on end even though the night was warm.

"That you belong here and I feel like being close to you is where _I_ belong."

Blaine had to run that sentence through his head few more times before he paled from the sudden realisation. "Sebastian... you were always my best friend-"

"Spare me the talk, Blaine," interrupted him the taller boy, faking the confident smirk. "I know you'll never look at me like you look at that creature called 'Kurt'."

"Then why..."

"Why tell you I like you now? To put my cards on the table, Blaine." Sebastian's facade dropped a bit as his voice was tinged with determination. "I want you to know I'm here for _you _alone. I really like you and I'm sure you could grow to like me while ruling Narnia."

Blaine bit his lower lip. Getting together with Sebastian – oh, how weird was it to even think that after so many years of being only friends - would be such a simple solution to his problems. Two kings on two thrones, together... but it was too late for that now. His heart was full of Kurt – the ice djinn whom he loved.

Sebastian grimaced. "I can read your face like a book, you know. And it hurts to watch you getting hurt by that lying creature."

Blaine shook his head vigorously. "Don't call him 'creature'. He also has never lied to me."

"But you are hurt."

"I don't want to talk about it," Blaine dismissed him, turning away from the serene view of the moonlit sea.

"You will, one day. Because one day you'll see it could never work between you two," Sebastian shouted after him, the echo amplifying the part of his last sentence ominously.

Blaine again shook his head, refusing to look back. He had to get out of there. The castle's locations was as romantic as in a fairy tale, but he was there with the wrong person. It should be Kurt confessing his love to him on that terrace, not Sebastian.

Even with its unicorns, talking animals and enchanted castles... Narnia was no fairy tale land and no one said that Kurt would be Blaine's promised only true love.

* * *

**Next chapter: Guests from the White Witch's castle...**


	14. Chapter 14

**An: I finally managed to finish & edit next chapter with a big help from youngandobsessed! I'll try to not leave you guys waiting so long for next parts, although life likes to constantly get in my way... **

**So I was asked about the fact that Seb has a crush on Blaine while they are cousins. They are actually quite distant cousins. For example, they both call Lucy 'aunt' yet they are obviously not Lucy's siblings' children. **

**I still needed both Seb & Blaine to have Pevensie's family "blood" for future reasons... I guess I've read far too many medieval fantasy/ historic books where marrying cousins was more than okay, so I kind of got used to this not being an issue. I know it sounds like a stretched solution, but please roll with it :P I'm sorry if that aspect disturbed anyone! **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

The dark silhouette above Kurt was definitely not Blaine's. The barely awoken witchling tensed under a menacing stare of a tall, charcoal grey faun. The creature's eyes were bright with barely- restrained anger.

"What do you want?" Kurt asked, upset that there was an audible tremble in his voice. His mother would have scolded him for not hiding his fear.

The witchling's hand travelled under his blanket toward his shirt, underneath which he had hidden his bottle of magic. He was pretty sure that the faun didn't know he could use magic at the moment – the intruder wouldn't dare to stand so close otherwise. When Kurt's fingers touched the flask he knew he could take out the faun if necessary. An unpleasant thought crossed his mind – if he used magic now he wouldn't be able to heal Blaine. However, the more practical part of his brain informed him that after killing the Narnian above him he would have to run away from the camp anyway and possibly never see Blaine again.

Hearing the question, the faun grimaced as if Kurt's voice repulsed him. "We were asked to bring you food and water to wash," he sneered. The witchling noticed that there was another faun in the tent – currently setting down the barrel of water. He also didn't look happy about the situation and was armed. A bad combination.

_Me against the two of them – that might not end well_, thought Kurt, desperately forming an emergency plan.

"I was thinking... " started the faun who stood further away from Kurt. "How do we know if the djinn here doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve? He might attack us..."

Kurt stilled his fingers over the bottle. _Did they notice?_

"You are right..." replied the charcoal faun, staring down at the witchling. "...I guess no one would blame us for protecting ourselves against him."

_Oh_, Kurt realized. _They are just conspiring against me. Still looking bad for me._

"Blaine will know the truth," he said aloud, trying to sound confident.

Blaine's name seemed to stop the fauns for a moment. They remembered that killing Kurt, no matter if in self-defence or not, would be against their king's wishes. Kurt could see in eyes of the Narnian above him the internal battle between the loyalty toward Blaine and centuries of hate toward ice djinns in Narnia.

Fortunately Kurt didn't have to find out which would win in the end, because into the tent walked the very person with no intentions of letting anyone hurt the witchling.

"Thank you, Fern, Hav," Blaine said deliberately. "I'll take it from here."

The fauns bowed deeply and throwing one last disgusted glance at Kurt they swiftly left the tent. Blaine shook his head.

"I'm sorry about that, but I needed help to bring the food and the rest in." The boy shrugged his bandaged shoulder, his other hand was holding a bundle of clothes. "I'll have a talk with them later."

"Be careful. They might organize a mutiny soon," joked Kurt.

Blaine didn't laugh, just walked up to the witchling and gently put his hands around Kurt's shoulders. "Kurt, you are shaking," he said.

The witchling noticed, that yes, his whole body was still trembling. "That's from cold," he lied.

"_Really_?"

Kurt glanced again at the items brought into the tent and decided to quickly change the topic. "I guess then you guys are not going to starve me or torture with lack of hygiene."

"Um, no, of course not. I also got you some new clothes, because yours are torn and dirty. I know these are nothing like what I've seen you wear so far, but they are clean and definitely from natural fabric... I mean everything here is from natural fabric, it's Narnia after all, but they are nice to touch-"

"Alright, calm down," Kurt interrupted Blaine's word vomit. "They are not even half as stylish as what I usually wear, but I guess I can survive before I'll be able to make myself something better."

"Make?" Blaine was surprised, he never thought that the witchling would partake in something as mundane as sewing. Kurt, however, only rolled his eyes.

"Make as in using my magic. I usually make around five new outfits per week if I don't need to use my power for anything else. It's nothing too special, so once I create them they don't disappear."

Blaine's jaw almost hit the floor. Math was never his strong subject, but _damn_, that was a lot of clothes. How did Kurt manage to store them all in his wardrobe? _Wait, I'm going to rule a country that managed to fit inside a wardrobe, so perhaps I shouldn't really think too much of it..._

"Well, your magic is back so you could-"

Kurt glared at Blaine, almost disappointed. "You really are weird. I told you I would use it today for something else. Now, before I change my mind, take off your shirt."

"Huh?" Blaine couldn't stop an embarrassing blush from blossoming on his cheeks.

"Your shirt. Off. I need access to your wound. Honestly, Blaine, this is not a time to be shy – I've already seen your-"

"Taking it off right now," squeaked Blaine, all but tearing the clothes from his torso.

Kurt reached forward to help the boy take off the bandages from his left shoulder. He couldn't suppress a grimace upon seeing the burning flesh around the torn skin.

"Does it hurt?" The witchling asked softly.

"Not much unless I bump into something," Blaine assured him. "But that liquid of yours... it's going to sting, right?"

Kurt looked at him sympathetically as reached beneath his shirt for the flask. The bottle gleamed and cast faint emerald streaks of light onto Kurt and Blaine.

"Do you need me to hold your shoulder so you won't trash around?" the witchling asked and Blaine gulped, paling.

"Yes, please. My pain threshold is embarrassingly low."

Blaine kind of regretted he said that the moment Kurt took a hold of his arm, as the witchling's velvety touch was making him even more self conscious about the sensitivity of his skin. He was sure his shiver was visible, but it seemed Kurt chose not to comment on it.

The witchling tilted the bottle and allowed the elixir to drip freely onto Blaine's wound. He cocked an eyebrow when the boy didn't so much as flinch. "Blaine, you don't feel anything?"

"No..." Blaine sounded even more surprised. "I can feel your hand and the _sensation_ of the liquid, but it's not painful, it's-" the boy furrowed his eyebrows to name the feeling of the fluid seeping into his wound and spreading through the whole shoulder. "-It's actually nice. And warm."

Kurt's eyes widened. "Are you sure? Hm..." His forehead wrinkled in concentration. "Maybe I know why... I think I wanted it to be gentle for you and it became a part of the spell... I wish I had thought of it yesterday," Kurt flashed him a lopsided smile.

"And it still does its intended job well," Blaine complimented, craning his head to observe how the liquid seemed to dissolve into his body, mending the tear and smoothing new skin tissue over it.

Kurt ghosted over the healed shoulder with his fingers, trailing the freshly fixed section. "Of course it works perfectly. It's a part of me after all."

Blaine was about to comment on the witchling's '_modesty_', but then he took in that last sentence. Part of Kurt. Some kind of magical essence of this beautiful creature was now inside his body and that felt so good and intimate... Blaine lifted his right hand to put it over Kurt's fingers on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Kurt," he said with his most charming smile.

The witchling froze and sharply inhaled. He almost suspected that Blaine was a witch himself, because that smile seemed to have magic on its own. "I... it was my pleasure..." He suddenly chuckled – a nervous, shrilly laugh. "I don't think I should be healing my official enemies. I'm a terrible spy."

"Maybe so, but I find it quite endearing." Blaine dragged the last word out longer than necessary, gaining more and more courage from the fact that Kurt hadn't taken his hand back from his hold. The boy wrapped his fingers around the witchling's and shifted to face him. "Everything about you is _endearing_."

"Even the 'cold-blooded' djinn part?"

"Especially that. And you are not 'cold', not really."

Kurt's eyebrows shot up. "So you know me so well now?"

"Not as much as I would want to," Blaine blurted out. He was seriously starting to suspect that there must be something in the water here that kept loosening his tongue.

Meanwhile had Kurt looked down, since the smouldering emotion in Blaine's eyes boring into his was just too much... and it was the bad choice, because he was immediately assaulted by the view of the boy's compact, tanned torso. It brought back all the pleasant memories from when they still had been just two unrestricted entities attracted to each other. Before he knew it, he had lifted his free hand and placed his palm flat on Blaine's chest which shuddered from the chilly touch. Kurt could feel the boy's heartbeat, steadily accelerating, and found it quite fascinating that he could be the reason for it. He experimentally slid his hand down through the dips and curves of Blaine's abdominal muscles and almost smiled feeling yet another quiver underneath his fingers. Blaine captured his wrist before it could travel any further downwards.

"That's not a good idea, someone could come in at any moment, Kurt," he said with a hint of regret. "They might think that you are putting me under some spell. Well, they probably already do," he sighed.

Kurt shrugged. "So it actually doesn't matter then,even if I do _this_." He lifted his hand leaving only one fingertip on Blaine's body, but trailing the single finger in a line along the waistband of the boy's pants.

"I'm... serious... you can't..." Blaine's voice lost all of its fortitude . He stared at Kurt's face which resembled a kid's exploring a playground and began to consider letting the witchling do whatever he desired...

"I thought you wanted this too," Kurt pouted, poking at Blaine's hipbone. Suddenly, the witchling's face paled and lost its playful expression. HIs blue eyes darted toward the entrance to the tent. "Are you just going to watch us without saying anything, not even a greeting?" Kurt's voice sounded naturally prince-like – condescending and authoritative.

Blaine whipped his head towards the guest and couldn't hide the upset grimace on his face at seeing Sebastian standing at the entrance and gazing at Blaine's half-naked body with too much intensity.

"Seb, how long were you standing there?" The boy asked, failing at sounding composed. He snatched his shirt from the ground and quickly put it on. In doing that he noticed that his shoulder was indeed fully healed and functioning well. Kurt's magic had worked splendidly.

"Somewhere around 'someone could come in at any moment'," Sebastian answered Blaine, but his narrowed eyes were now glued to the witchling.

Kurt immediately returned his interest with a disdained glare of his own. "Guess your entrance was very fitting then, whoever-you-are."

"For your information I'm Sebastian. Human and the future king of Narnia. The same as Blaine."

"Funny, I thought you were some kind of Narnian animal hybrid. Half-meerkat perhaps..."

"Okay, stop it, guys," Blaine chimed in, feeling that these two were not meant to get along. "Sebastian – why did you find me? Has anything happened?"

The taller boy wretched his steely stare from the witchling. "Indeed it has. We have the enemy's wolves in our camp and they require the presence of both you and that _creature_ over there. As soon as possible."

* * *

An hour later Blaine led Kurt from the tent to the entrance of Aslan's Camp, the boy fidgeting the entire way.

"Did you really need that long to wash? We were supposed to be there a while ago," he asked nervously.

Kurt rolled his eyes. "I'm _not_ going to neglect my beauty regime just because I'm a prisoner. Also, these wolves _know_ me. 'As soon as possible' for me always means ' whenever prince Kurt would be ready'. Of course, it would have taken less time if you didn't take forever putting on these." The witchling lifted his wrists, meticulously tied together with a rope. "I'm not going to run while surrounded by a whole camp of Narnians. Not when my leg is only half-way patched up."

"We don't want to take the chances. Especially if the wolves would help you." Blaine licked his lips. "I... I hope the rope is not too tight?"

Kurt let out a peal of deep laughter. " Oh, Blaine. You are sometimes just too considerate to be a king."

They soon stopped talking as they joined the Narnians gathered around the visitors, their weapons lowered, but ready to attack immediately if there should be a need for it. Blaine looked around, but couldn't see Aslan anywhere. It seemed that he and Sebastian would have to take care of this themselves.

He was angry at himself for being so nervous about it – it wasn't like they hadn't expected the pack to come to collect the remains of their previous leader. Puck had explained the ceremony to him earlier as the Narnians had cut off the dead wolf's head and tarred it for preservation. Blaine didn't really want to know what they had done with the rest of the corpse and sternly rejected their offer of making him the cape from Maugrim's fur.

"We came with no hostile intentions to see Maugrim's slayer and to receive our leader's head so it could be lain in the kurhan of Alphas," the deep voice broke into Blaine's reverie. It belonged to a massive wolf sporting a coat of grey-blue fur. While as intimidating as their previous general, Blaine could see much more wisdom and some sort of strong peacefulness in his pale steel eyes that Maugrim had lacked.

The circle of Narnians around the visitors gave way to Puck, who came forward holding Maugrims head by its black, now dull, fur. "We know the tradition," he said and threw the head at the pack. The bluish wolf jumped up and caught it with his teeth with ease. He passed it to one of the four wolves that came with him and looked back at Puck with interest. "I heard you and Maugrim were mortal enemies. Were you the one to kill him?"

"I wish, but no." Puck contorted his face in an unpleasant smile. "That _mutt_ was bested by one of our kings. You know, one of the _true_ kings of Narnia." He proudly tilted his head at the short boy with the dark curls.

Blaine heard the exchange and blushed nervously when the grey-blue wolf turned to look at him and wrinkle its nose with doubt.

"That dwarf killed Maugrim? That's a story hard to believe..."

Blaine was about to correct him, but Kurt beat him to it. "He did. All by himself. It was a very nice _thrust _he made." The witchling looked at the short boy intensively and Blaine understood that he was to take the credit for their victory as Kurt's assistance could be seen as a treason against the queen, no matter what Maugrim's plans for him had been.

Meanwhile, the wolf had stopped scrutinising Blaine and moved his attention onto Kurt, smiling at the witchling. His smile showed off his teeth protruding from raw red gums and looked all kinds of terrifying, but it didn't faze Kurt in the slightest.

"Hi Ingolf," he said with a light grin. "Don't tell me you are now the alpha?"

"Your Majesty," the wolf bowed his head. "It's good to see you unharmed, although someone _will pay_ for tying you up. And to answer your question – I'm not a new alpha. I was informed by Ulf – our new leader – that I'm still too young to issue a challenge for the spot, but my courage has been rewarded by becoming a beta and a representative for this meeting."

There was a hint of laughter in his voice, as if he had already known that the 'too young' excuse was just a cowardly lie and given a chance Ingolf would show who the real leader was.

"I'm sure you'll get that spot one day. I always knew you were born for greatness." Kurt agreed eagerly and something new in his voice – a warm, soft undertone, perhaps – caught Ingolf's attention. The wolf tilted his head and trusted his nose to determine what was different. _Now, that's interesting._

"My prince, forgive me for asking, but I would like to speak to you alone for a moment."

One of the centaurs near them immediately snorted. "Yeah, right. As if we would let two of our enemies to talk privately in the middle of the camp."

Blaine opened his mouth to allow Kurt and the wolf to have a moment alone, but he caught Sebastian's furious stare and reconsidered. Despite the ridiculous amount of trust he had in Kurt, he shouldn't give another order that could have be seen as unfavourable for Aslan's army. He had already risked enough by protecting the witchling.

"I'm sorry, but that's out of the question," he said aloud, trying to give his voice enough authority.

Ingolf looked at Blaine condescendingly. "We are not going to talk about your army, _boy_. Your puny Narnians are no danger to us. The topic I need to discuss with my prince is a private matter."

The Narnians were beginning to lose their patience with the wolf, especially after how he had spoken to their king! Their circle around the wolves tightened and the pack took a defensive stance, barring their teeth and flattening their ears.

"Just take your loser-leader's head and go back to the Witch!" someone shouted and other voices joined in, agreeing.

"Maybe I'll take _your_ head too," barked back one of the wolves.

The cacophony of cries and threats layered over each other. Hands were trembling close to weapons' handles and muscles were flexing, every animal readying to pounce.

"Stay down!" Ingolf growled at his pack.

"Stop it!" Blaine and Sebastian shouted at the same time .

Grumbling, the Narnians all took a step back, giving the visitors more space. Blaine smiled gratefully at Sebastian for aiding his command which caused a dark scowl on Kurt's face.

"Is this really that important, Ingolf?" The witchling asked, a bit upset. He wanted to get out of here – away from the Narnians' hostile stares and from Sebastian's leering at Blaine.

The wolf looked flustered. "It could be nothing, but my nose is sending me a warning... And everything is important if it concerns you, your majesty." Kurt couldn't hide a sad smile at that. From anyone else's mouth it would sound like shallow flattery, but Ingolf sounded like he meant it.

"Excuse me." There was suddenly a small, timid voice coming from the direction of Blaine's shoulder. The nearest Narnians turned toward it to see Pavarotti sitting on the short boy's arm.

"I might have a solution gentlemen," continued the yellow bird. "I could be a witness to the conversation – just to make sure nothing hurtful regarding the Narnians would be passed between you."

"And how would that be different from having any other random rebel listening?" Ingolf asked, eyeing Pavarotti coldly and barring his teeth.

The little bird seemed unruffled by his open hostility. "I am not a part of the rebellion. I'm not even a Narnian – I was merely Aslan's messenger from across the sea. I can be an impartial witness."

Ingolf wrinkled his nose. Pavarotti indeed had a foreign fragrance of the sea on him.

Meanwhile, Kurt grew impatient. "Let's just do it that way, Ingolf. It's not like I have learned any useful information here to give you, anyway. And I really don't care about what my mother is doing now in preparation for the war."

Ingolf nodded slowly. He clearly didn't think it was a good idea, but he chose to listen to his prince.

Followed by Narnian's hateful stares and one caring gaze, Kurt and Ingolf separated themselves from the crowd with Pavarotti who, surprisingly, perched himself comfortably onto the witchling's shoulder.

"So... I guess we are far enough away," said Kurt, glancing at the Narnians from the distance. He could easily make out the dark curls bouncing on Blaine's head while the boy was impatiently pacing back and forth, waiting. Ingolf followed his line of sight.

"So that's your human?" The wolf wasn't known for subtlety.

Kurt smiled lightly. "He... might consider himself to be mine... But I'm sure you wanted to speak to me about different matters. I won't ask about my mother, but would love to know if Brit..."

"Brittany is good. Unhappy that you don't take her from the stables for a walk anymore, but she's safe there and I don't think she is to take a part in the war directly since she's been always your personal horse."

Kurt sighed, relieved. "And what about-" The witchling fell silent, not knowing if he could ask... Fortunately Ingolf knew well who else could be on his prince's mind.

"Rory is also safe. For now. The queen knows his value as a source of information and would probably prefer to keep him alive just in case."

Kurt nodded. Feeling a sharp sting on his shoulder he turned to look at Pavarotti. The bird looked at him quizzically.

"Oh... Yeah, I think I will tell Blaine about it. It doesn't change anything and he would be glad to know that Rory is okay." The witchling looked daringly at Ingolf.

The wolf bowed lightly, observing the witchling. "It is not my choice what my prince chooses to tell the _enemy_."

Kurt ignored the obvious jab. "Now, tell me what got you so worried earlier. I'm pretty sure Aslan's army is quickly losing its patience with us."

Ingolf once more sniffed the air, hoping that what he had sensed before was a mistake. It wasn't.

"There is something weird with your scent. And your human's scent."

"How so?"

"They are somehow... interwined. It's not like there is a different smell on top of yours as there normally is when a couple... _interacts_. It's more like they are entangled with each other."

Kurt looked surprised at how nervous Ingolf seemed about that revelation. He guessed the wolves trusted their sense of smell the most and any changes in a familiar scent would probably be a big cause to worry.

"I'm not sure what you mean by that, but..." the witchling pondered the problem. "Just this morning I used my djinn magic on Blaine's wound, so I guess some residues might still be inside his body... I had never used my magic to heal anyone so you would have never sensed similar thing before."

Ingolf once more looked at Blaine from afar as if trying to find influence from the djinn magic on the boy.

"But that wouldn't explain the changes in your scent, Kurt."

Surprisingly, the voice had belonged to Pavarotti. The bird nestled himself into a more comfortable position on Kurt's shoulder and looked at the present party patronisingly as if knowing more than he should. The witchling didn't like this. He was also irritated that the bird addressed him so informally.

"The fact that I'm wearing his clothes would," he replied coldly with the first explanation that came to mind.

Pavarotti rolled his beady eyes. Ingolf shared the bird's skepticism.

"I'm just worried because it feels strange. It might be dangerous for you, my prince. I could ask the queen to look into it-"

"No!" Kurt cut him off immediately. "Don't mention anything about it to my mother."

"I won't tell her," promised Ingolf. Then, after a moment of hesitation he spoke again. "My prince... What are you actually doing _here_? Even after finding out about this human you... healed him and you seem to be still taken with him." Before Kurt would reply he continued. "Don't answer to _me_. I am just your loyal servant. However, to know where I stand I will need to know at some point where _you_ stand."

The wolf's eyes bore into Kurt's, full of questions and expectations. The witchling couldn't maintain the uncomfortable eye contact any longer and his gaze wandered instead to around them, over the hill filled with crimson tents and flags flapping in the sea breeze, all sporting the golden embroidery of a magnificent lion. He turned to look back at the wolves surrounded by the Narnians – every one of them watching Kurt and Ingolf, waiting for their conversation to be over. Blaine stood there as well – his natural charm and warmth emanating from him, making him a perfect charismatic leader despite his short posture. Soon he would lead the army gathered here to fight against Jadis.

Not long ago Kurt's sure fire answer would have been that he stood only for himself, as in every djinn's nature. Now, it seemed he wouldn't be able to avoid becoming involved in the impending conflict. He would need to choose between his obligations to his blood, family and his attachment to Blaine. What was worse, though, was that both sides weren't exactly welcoming him at the moment, so no matter which choice made, he would be surrounded by enemies.

Kurt felt the air surrounding him tightening, suffocating. He realized that there wasn't really a place for him anywhere.

* * *

**Next chapter: Searching for the goodness and unveiling the sadness **


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